The Ki Chronicles
by OH NO NOT AGAIN
Summary: A rent collection day changes it all. Yeah, this is another 'Keitaro is secretly cool' story. Slightly OOC and AU. There's more in store for this story, but it might be slow updating because I have little time to write. Romance isn't in the story yet. OC's planned for later. Revisions underway for ch. 1-3. Prologue complete; Part 1 Ch 2 in progress.
1. Chapter 1: Un-typical Tuesday

A/N: Hey people. I am back with another story.

Keitaro: Oh, no.

Motoko: What sort of stupid idea do you want to put down on the Internet _this_ time?

Chris: Let's just say you're lives will all change tremendously.

Everyone but Chris: WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?!

Motoko: You vile male! Doing something to pair us with _him_!(Points to Keitaro). You'll pay for this! SECRET TECHNIQUE: STONE-CUTTING SWORD!

(Motoko's attack hits Chris in the face)

Chris: Ow.

Kitsune: Why did you not go flying?

Chris: Oh, I am an author who writes in what happens before a story. I can make a chase scene start for no reason and get the living day lights knocked out of me and I would still live. For example...

(chase scene starts throughout Hinata City for no apparent reason)

Shinobu: Why are we chasing him?

Kitsune: I have no idea.

Naru: What did you _do_?!

Chris: I started a chase scene for no apparent reason.

Motoko: WHY?!

Chris: Because it's fun.

Naru: GET OVER HERE SO WE CAN BEAT THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF YOU!

Chris: You two are _mad_, aren't you?

Naru: YOU'RE ****ING RIGHT WE ARE!

Chris: Okay, who doesn't want to see me get beat up a lot?

(Shinobu raises her hand, still running)

Chris: Okay, I can send you back to the house. Is that okay?

Shinobu: Y-Yes.

Chris: Okay.

(Chris snaps his fingers, Shinobu goes back to the Hinata House)

(Chris gets chased into an alley, Naru and Motoko beat him up for two hours)

-Two hours later-

Chris: (groans in pain) Ow, my finger.

Naru: We hit you everywhere and only your finger hurts?!

Chris: Yeah. Disclaimer: the characters aren't mine, they belong to Ken Akamatsu. STORY START!

|/\/\|

One day, one might have walked by the Hinata-Sou and heard nothing. Anyone new to the neighborhood would simply walk by and act completely normal and calm. Then, someone nearby who lived in Hinata for a while would stop and stare, wondering aloud, "Hmmm. This place seems too quiet." Then the new person would try to ask what they meant, but they stop when they see a man soaring through the sky, having crashed through the wall. "Ah, there it is," is what the person familiar with the town would say.

Of course, that new person never saw Keitaro flying out the side of the building from Naru's crazy punch before, just on occasion flying through the city they lived at previously.

Nor would they have guessed the crazy coincidences that Keitaro was surrounded by everyday. Such as the fact that he was not only the lone male in an all-girls dormitory, but the manager of it. Or how he just happened to live with seven girls that could not be any more different from each other than they were if they tried; a strong warrior from a family of demon slayers, a mad-scientist teenage genius princess, a shy girl who could out-cook the best of the profession, a twenty-two-year-old anemic woman who could talk to turtles and said the word "ara" a lot, a twenty-year-old alcoholic who took her looks and used them to get out of rent, a little blond brat who could pull a vase out of nowhere, and the girl at the top of the list of test scores with a punch possessing force beating that of a musket.

Of course, if told any of this, they would say, "That's crazy!" They would say a lot of that if they were to ever stay there for one day. What was going on, you might ask? Well, I'll say it. It was a typical rent collection day. Which was Friday afternoon.

First, he went to Motoko's room. She was always the punctual and ethical girl of the group, plus she wanted to chat with him as little as possible, he knew. Hence, she would fork over the money quickly and tell him to get out or feel her wrath. He felt it on a daily basis anyway, but he would run out of her room all the same, leaving a scoffing Motoko behind him.

Usually. Not this time though. This time was different.

This time _started_ like normal; he walked to her room and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" she yelled.

"It's Keitaro. I'm here to-"

"I know why you are here, Urashima-san. You only come to my room to collect rent. Just open the door," Motoko interrupted him, sounding very much annoyed. Again, no different from usual. He rushed to open the door, not aiming to irritate a samurai who could kill anyone but him, as she always tried and never succeeded in doing so. Again, an uncanny emulation of usual.

"Here is the rent for two months, Urashima-san. Do not bother me until then or I will have your head," she threatened dryly, the threat so routine it never sounded serious anymore and sounded more like a deadpan joke.

"Right. Well, see you at breakfast, Motoko-chan," Keitaro said nervously.

After he ran away from the door like usual, he reasserted himself. Next on the list was Kitsune. Keitaro shuddered. She NEVER paid her rent. At least, not in yen. However, it wasn't HOW she paid that bothered him. It was how Motoko or Naru or both of them would show up at the time least convenient and smack him out into the open air and into the ocean blue...off the coast of Oregon. All elaborately planned by none other than the devious Fox herself. Still, it was better than being launched into the stratosphere after accidentally walking in on Naru or doing something to make Shinobu cry and THEN getting launched into the stratosphere by Naru.

He started walking to her room, figuring it was best to get it over with than wait until after everyone else's rent was collected. As he reached her door, he stopped and sighed. 'I wonder what she has planned for me THIS time,' he wondered. He knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" Kitsune asked.

"It's me, Keitaro. I'm here to try and collect rent," he said.

"Oh. Come in, Kei-kun!" she responded seductively.

Keitaro groaned in dismay. 'Oh, dear. It sounds like she is going all out this month. Kami-sama, help me,' he thought.

He opened the door and got only a mild nosebleed from the sight before him. Kitsune was lying on the futon in a bikini with a flower pattern on it.

Wiping up his nosebleed with a handkerchief, he said, "You know, as many times as you have worn that on rent collection day, I have yet to get used to it."

"I know, where do you think I got the idea?" Kitsune said playfully.

Once Keitaro recovered, he stated, with his usual lack of confidence, "I-I'm here to collect your rent, Kitsune. Do you have it ready for me this month?" he said, not really thinking she would follow through.

"Actually, I don't. But I'm sure we can work _something_ out," she said, pressing her ample chest into his back.

'Huh, she already played her trump card. She must really want to get this over with,' he thought, knowing the fox as well as she knew the many different companies of _sake_ in Japan.

"Alright, Kitsune, how are you going to pay your rent THIS month? You know you could just ASK and I will give you an extension. Even though you are already five months overdue on your payments," he said matter-of-factly.

"Would you really? Well, this time, I was going to give you a massage. Would you like that, Kei-kun?" she asked in a friendly tone.

"Well, I am a little tense. Thanks, Kitsune. I would like a massage," Keitaro accepted.

Kitsune started to massage his shoulders. 'Wow. She's very good at this. I guess she really wants to do me a favor this time. I wonder why it's a massage THIS time and not a span of time where she makes me faint from blood loss. She's probably pranking me again. Better enjoy this massage before she can get through with her prank,' he thought.

And yet, the rest of this 'prank' never came.

Kitsune finished with her massage. "Thanks for that, Kitsune. You have no idea how much I needed that." Keitaro thanked her.

Kitsune hugged Keitaro from behind as he stood up. Just another one of her seductive charms. "No problem, Kei-kun. Anytime," she said, still hugging him from behind. This was making him blush.

Unfortunately, this was the time Naru came into Kitsune's room. They were friends, after all. But what she saw put a blush on her cheeks and an angry growl on her lips. Apparently, seeing Kitsune in a bikini was acceptable, but if she were to hug Keitaro from behind, it wouldn't be acceptable.

"KEITARO, YOU WEIRDO!" Naru yelled, charging at Keitaro like a wild zoo animal on the rampage. Kitsune let go just before Naru reached him. Kitsune had a front row seat to Naru sending Keitaro into the stratosphere.

BOOM!

Kitsune looked out of the hole in her room at the flying man traveling the stratosphere. She was standing behind Naru, laughing her head off. At first, Naru was cooling down, so she didn't notice the hysterical fox lady rolling around on the floor until she calmed down.

"What's so funny, Kitsune?" Naru asked confusedly.

"I'm just laughing at the slapstick comedy in this situation," Kitsune managed to get out while laughing.

"Slapstick humor?" Naru asked. She was more confused than before.

"Yeah. I was giving him a massage to pay off my rent and you showed up right after I was finished. He wasn't being a pervert, but it was still funny when you sent him flying! Ha!" Kitsune explained, slowly stopping her laughing fest.

"Really?" Naru asked skeptically.

"Yeah. Anyway, what did you need, Naru-san?" Kitsune asked, massaging her cheeks.

"Actually, I just came to ask how you were going to pay your rent THIS time, but I was too late, apparently," she responded.

"Yeah, Keitaro-san beat you to it," Kitsune said.

Meanwhile, Keitaro landed behind Mutsumi's old apartment building's ruins across the street. He got up and dusted himself off. 'Okay, I got Motoko-chan's rent, Kitsune-chan needed an extension, Shinobu-chan works off her rent, Su-chan payed rent for sixty years when she got here, Sarah-chan was getting paid for by Seta-san, so that leaves Naru-chan and Mutsumi-chan,' he counted.

He walked across the street and up the hill of the Hinata-Sou. And yes, by running up the steps, not jumping up them like The Incredible Hulk. He DID run up them extremely fast, though.

He walked to Mutsumi's room once he got back to the house. He knocked on her door.

"Yes? Who is it?" Mutsumi asked with her usual relaxed, scatterbrained ditziness.

"It's Keitaro. I'm here to collect the rent," he said.

"Oh. Come in, Kei-kun," she said kindly, completely differently from Kitsune.

He opened the door and went into her room. There was surprisingly little to do with watermelons or kotatsus, aside from an open storage crate in the corner and a kotatsu in the center of the room. Aside from those two things, there was a futon and a few pictures of her huge family and some boxes.

"Uh...still unpacking, Mutsumi-chan?" Keitaro asked.

"Well, I only have to unpack the beanbag chair, couch, and some pictures, but yes, I'm still unpacking," Mutsumi responded.

"Well, back to the situation at hand, do you have the rent for your first month here? If you need an extension, it's okay," Keitaro asked.

"No, I have the rent right here, Kei-kun," Mutsumi said.

"Alright. Thank you, Mutsumi-chan. You always make things easy for me. Thank you," he said gratefully.

"You're welcome, Kei-kun. Here is the rent for the month," Mutsumi said.

"Thanks," Keitaro said tiredly.

"Hey, Kei-kun, you seem bothered by something. Do you want to talk about it?" Mutsumi offered.

"Well, there's not much to talk about, really. I'm just worried about everyone. They don't know how far I go to try and keep them happy. But I suppose they don't need to know right now. After all, I don't want them to worry about anything. That's MY job," he said, walking out the door, leaving a thought-faced Mutsumi in her room.

'Something seems different with Kei-kun. I wonder what he's hiding...ooh, watermelon!' she thought, moving to get some watermelon, having seemingly forgotten about her thoughts.

Meanwhile, Keitaro was already on his way to Naru's room. 'Alright, Naru-chan is the last person I need rent from. I just hope she doesn't try to kill me,' he thought to himself.

He made it to Naru's room and was about to knock on the door when he heard someone yell "HELP!" and a thud.

'NARU! I have to help her!' Keitaro thought. He busted down the door on an instinct. 'Great. Now I have to fix that,' he thought bitterly. He looked around the room and saw a big, burly thug the size of a couch trying to make a break for the window. Keitaro looked around for something to throw when he spotted a notebook. He picked it up and threw it like a disc. It caught the burglar in the leg, making him tumble INTO the window rather than out of it. He broke the window with his head, falling unconscious.

"Wimp," Keitaro laughed, untying the unconscious Naru and tying up the man who tied her up with those ropes. He called the cops and told them that a thug was trying to hurt one of his residents. They asked for the address, got it, and said they were on the way.

Fifteen minutes later, Keitaro heard a knock at the door. He was waiting for the cops, the still-unconscious thug right in front of him.

"Who is it?" he asked the people on the other side of the door.

"Police. We got a call from the manager saying that one of the residents was attacked by a thug," a man responded.

Keitaro opened the door. "Yes, he's right here," he said. Two policemen came in and dragged him down the stairs.

"Is this place an inn again? I thought this was an all-girls dormitory," the guy at the door asked.

"No, it's still an all-girl dorm. I'm just the manager," Keitaro answered.

"And how did a MAN become the manager of an all-girl dorm?" he asked skeptically.

"Well, my grandmother asked me to run this place after she left on a world tour all without telling me. Did you want to see the deed?" Keitaro asked, pulling out the deed. The officer looked it over a few times.

"Hmm. Seems real," he said, handing the deed back to Keitaro.

"Well, that's because it is," Keitaro said, taking the deed. "I figured you would ask for it," he added.

"Alright. Goodbye, sir," the officer said, waving goodbye and leaving.

"Goodbye, officer," Keitaro said back. Then he turned around to the couch. "And you guys can hide WAY better than that. I know you're there," he said, causing the girls to fall back and shriek in surprise.

"You know you could have just ASKED me who was at the door, right?" he added.

"Sorry, Kei-kun. We got curious," Kitsune said innocently. She turned around to head up the stairs.

"Right. Can I have my wallet back now? You know I would loan you money if you just ASKED, right?" he asked.

Kitsune took his wallet out of her pocket, surprised but not shocked. "How did you know I took your wallet?" was her question.

"C'mon, Kitsune-chan. We've been living together for...how long was it? Two years? We've done some crazy things together. I know my tenants," Keitaro pointed out with mock surprise.

"Well, I guess that makes sense. So can I borrow a few hundred yen?" Kitsune asked.

"Sure, Kitsune-chan," Keitaro said, handing her the money.

"Umm, Sempai...why were the police at the door?" Shinobu asked nervously.

"Well, I was going to Naru-chan's room to collect rent when I heard her scream for help. I tried to open the door, but it was locked. Then, I heard a thud and glass breaking. I finally busted the door down and the fat guy was lying unconscious next to the broken window and Naru-chan was tied in ropes. I'm guessing he's clumsier than me," Keitaro explained, lying.

"Well, that makes sense. When I woke up, Keitaro-san was in my room, my window and door were broken, and one of my notebooks was lying near the sleeping ugly," Naru said.

"So, uh, Naru-chan, do you have your rent?" Keitaro asked.

"Oh, yeah, it's right here," Naru responded, getting out her rent money. Everyone went back to their separate ways, leaving Keitaro to walk back up to his room to tuck away the collected rent money.

**Dinnertime**

Shinobu looked at the stove. She was preparing a dinner of grilled salmon, rice balls, and ramen (A/N: for clarification, the rice balls are wrapped in seasoned seaweed and the ramen will have bits of beef and steamed carrot inside). The salmon would be done in five minutes and she already finished preparing the rest of the meal, despite the number of people she was cooking for. Eight people! No one normal works that hard, let alone no normal fourteen-year-old! Yet she managed the second-largest workload in the house all without physical help from anyone. Her friends gave her moral support, but they let her do all the work she did. It was a fact she was very proud of. In a house full of people older than her, only one of them being younger than her, she did the second-to-most work in the whole house!

What made her even prouder was the fact that the only person who managed a larger share of work than her was her Sempai, who had helped her through her own burning buildings that were her problems, like how he was a great role model to her.

She chuckled at that thought. She seemed to be the only one who saw him as a role model in the whole house. Of course, she couldn't brag about it because she didn't ask anyone else what they thought of him. With that thought, a he went off to each resident's room to tell them that dinner would be ready in five minutes.

...

Once dinner was ready and everyone was gathered around the table, everyone started eating.

"Thanks again for a great meal, Shinobu-chan. You work so hard," Keitaro commented. Everyone agreed.

"Th-Thank you, everyone," Shinobu happily replied, starting to eat her portion of the food.

Nobody could speak for a minute or two. Then Naru decided to start a conversation about the crazy encounter she had that afternoon with the 'sleeping ugly', as she put it.

"Just how did a fat thug get in here, anyway? I thought it was easy to hear someone who weighed a ton walk down a hallway," she asked incredulously.

"Well, everyone was either out at school or sleeping off a hangover, so I wouldn't be surprised nobody caught him," Motoko pointed out.

"Wow. No wonder nobody could detect a man that huge walking the third floor hallway," Kitsune said with wonder.

"And just how could someone get that cartoonishly fat?" Su asked innocently. This got a laugh from everyone present.

After the meal, everyone stood up and walked towards their rooms. Suddenly, though, they heard a voice shouted through a bullhorn.

It shouted, "ATTENTION, HINATA HOUSE RESIDENTS! COME OUT ONTO THE ROOF OR I WILL DESTROY THE HILL!" The voice was so full of anger, it could have been the villain of a cheesy romance comedy.

Almost everyone responded with a surprised "Wha...!" or "What the...?". They all ran to the roof as a group.

"Oh, no," Keitaro said, as if he failed someone.

Standing on the side of the hill was a giant robot that looked really menacing. It stood at the foot of the hill and the Hinata gang had to look up to see the face of the robot. It was easily as wide as the longest wall of the Hinata-sou, if not wider. The face of the robot had green glowing eyes and a vicious expression. This is the kind of robot that looked able to easily level a city. What horrified everyone the most was the fact that there was a military squad, an Air Force squad from America, and a few dozen police cars all shooting firearms of all sorts, from machine guns to missiles to grenades, without making a scratch in the thing, much less a hole.

"GIVE ME NARU NARUSEGAWA AND NOBODY GETS HURT!" he shouted, as the voice made it clear that it was a man on the mic.

Before anyone else could respond, Keitaro yelled, "WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH HER?"

"That is none of your concern, mister. What are you even doing in an all-girls dormitory, anyway?" they all heard the robot say.

"I have a legitimate reason, which you will never know," Keitaro yelled back to the robot, so the occupant could hear it.

"Anyway, give me Naru Narusegawa and I will leave you in peace," the speaker repeated his threat through the robot.

"Never! SECRET TECHNIQUE: STONE CUTTING SWO-" Motoko yelled, running and jumping at the robot to hit him. It was all she managed before getting swatted by the giant metal hand. Motoko lay on the roof, unconscious and defenseless.

"The hard way it is, then," the robot said. He shot a missile at the group of girls, who fled in terror. Keitaro dragged Motoko as he ran after the group of girls that were his biggest responsibility. The missile chased them to the top of the roof, where they turned to the missile, screaming and bracing for the death shot, fearing for their seemingly shorter-than-previously-estimated lives, as they couldn't run very well on the roof. Motoko woke up just in time to panic with the rest of them.

Only, it never came.

They heard a sound resembling a hand hitting metal. Once they realized they weren't dead when they thought they should be, their curiosity made them open their eyes to see what happened. What they saw made them gasp.

Keitaro was standing there, one hand clearly grabbing the missile with little effort by the tip. His fingers dug into the metal, making the missile's propulsion of fire sputter and stop. Keitaro himself was growling angrily at the robot, making the others curious. He threw the missile at the robot using strength unparalleled by anyone. The rogue missile hit the robot in the face.

"OW! What the-?" he said.

"YOU...WILL...NOT...TOUCH THEM!" Keitaro yelled, running along the roof towards the robot without slipping. He jumped off the roof and started flying towards the robot. And it was actual flying, not him jumping off the roof towards the robot. He started glowing a clear gold and his eyes started glowing red as he flew to face the robot.

"Hold your fire, men!" cried the leader of the military squad down below.

The robot held up its palm to blast a jet of flame at the challenger. Keitaro, however, swung his arm upward and the flame stopped in front of him like a wave. The curve of flame resembled a knife. Keitaro then pushed his arm forward and the blade of flame he created pushed forward against the jet of flame the robot was spewing out. The flame sliced the robot in two. The pieces were about to crush the whole military squad below, but Keitaro grabbed them by the leg and threw them skyward really hard, causing someone to leap out of the head and open a parachute. Everyone expected to see the pieces fall down a minute later, but they were still waiting after four minutes, by which time Keitaro had already landed on the roof again, golden glow gone and eyes their normal color again.

Everyone was staring with surprised reaction on their face, of varying levels. At the top of the list was Motoko, Naru, and Kitsune, none of whom believed Keitaro could ever be brave, let alone brave enough to take on a giant robot. They didn't expect him to win, either, especially not the way he did. The rest of the residents were not nearly as surprised as those three. That isn't to say that they were not surprised or mildly surprised. No, they were still totally surprised that Keitaro could fight like that.

"Holy..." Kitsune started. She never managed to get out the rest of that, however, as she was too dumbfounded to speak, even after half an hour went by and the armies had left. Every other resident was in the same boat.

|\/\/|

And that is chapter one of a new story. And, I know, this is another 'Keitaro's secretly a cool guy' story, but I am really into those kinds of stories. Plus, I have some other ideas for crazy stories, but I am waiting until after I finish Lessons before I write one of them. I like to only have two stories in progress at a time.

Kitsune: I hope you have some pretty good ideas that don't have this recurring theme.

Chris: Yeah, yeah, yeah. More chapters on the way. This story will update slower than my other stories because I type it on my phone. Well, bye!

-smack-

Naru: YOU IDIOT! WHAT ABOUT PUTTING US INTO THIS ENDING PORTION OF THE STORY?

Chris: Oh, yeah. I forgot to say 'readers'. Bye, readers.

Naru: NO! THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT AT ALL!

(Screen fades to black)


	2. Chapter 2: Everything is Different Now

A/N: Hey, people. A new chapter is here.

Kitsune: Oh, great. Well, at least you made Keitaro quite the badass last chapter.

Chris: And I'm not done yet.

Motoko: You're going to make him even _more_ out of character?

Chris: Well, not really. But keep telling yourself that. I'm not going to tell you or the readers before the story does, so do something to keep from going crazy.

Motoko: Me...going crazy...because of him? Don't delude yourself, you crazy kid.

Chris: You know that isn't an insult, right?

Motoko: Oh, so, now we're in an insult contest?

Chris: No...but that idea is way better than mine! Let's do that!

Everyone: NOOOOO!

Kitsune: YES! I'M GONNA WIN!

(Chris snaps fingers, everyone falls asleep, dreaming that they were in or watching an insult contest)

Chris: And now to finish the job. (takes out a marker) Heheheh.

-Five minutes later-

Chris: And now to fall asleep and wake them up. (snaps fingers, falls asleep, everyone else wakes up)

Motoko: Hey! Where'd the stadium go?

Kitsune: I think we were just dreaming.

Motoko: Well...that was surreal.

Kitsune: GAH! Uh...Motoko? You got a little something on your face. And it's funny, too! (laughing) Guys, look at her face!

Everyone but Keitaro and Shinobu: (looks, snickers)

Motoko: Kitsune, what did you do?

Kitsune: Nothing.

Motoko: Then why is everyone snickering at me?

Shinobu: Ummm, Motoko-sempai...

Keitaro: You have the words 'I'm a crazy kendo witch' on your forehead.

Motoko: WHAT? OH, WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THAT BIG BRAT, I'M GOING TO SMACK HIM TO THE NEXT PREFECTURE!

Chris: (waking up) Oh, hey Motoko.

Motoko: YOU!

Chris: Me what?

Motoko: YOU DID THIS! (points to face)

Chris: What? No I didn't.

Motoko: THEN, IF YOU DIDN'T, WHO DID?

(another Chris comes into the room laughing)

Chris (new one): Me!

Motoko: (looking between both Chris's) THERE'S TWO OF THEM?!

Chris (old one): Actually...

Chris (new one): I'm the Chris from five minutes ago.

Motoko: Oh...WHAT?

Chris: I think we should start the story here before something bad happens. You know, don't want to be the harbinger of the instant Armageddon. Disclaimer: Ken Akamatsu is their creator and therefore owner. I own nothing, make no money. I do this purely to show all these ideas in my head to the world. STORY START!

Naru: Oh, my head.

|/\/\|

From last chapter:

"YOU...WILL...NOT...TOUCH THEM!" Keitaro yelled, running along the roof towards the robot without slipping. He jumped off the roof and started flying towards the robot. And it was actual flying, not him jumping off the roof towards the robot. He started glowing a clear gold and his eyes started glowing red as he flew to face the robot.

"Hold your fire, men!" cried the leader of the military squad down below.

The robot held up its palm to blast a jet of flame at the challenger. Keitaro, however, swung his arm upward and the flame stopped in front of him like a wave. The curve of flame resembled a knife. Keitaro then pushed his arm forward and the blade of flame he created pushed forward against the jet of flame the robot was spewing out. The flame sliced the robot in two. The pieces were about to crush the whole military squad below, but Keitaro grabbed them by the leg and threw them skyward really hard, causing someone to leap out of the head and open a parachute. Everyone expected to see the pieces fall down a minute later, but they were still waiting after four minutes, by which time Keitaro had already landed on the roof again, golden glow gone and eyes their normal color again.

Everyone was staring with surprised reaction on their face, of varying levels. At the top of the list was Motoko, Naru, and Kitsune, none of whom believed Keitaro could ever be brave, let alone brave enough to take on a giant robot. They didn't expect him to win, either, especially not the way he did. The rest of the residents were not nearly as surprised as those three. That isn't to say that they were not surprised or mildly surprised. No, they were still totally surprised that Keitaro could fight like that.

"Holy..." Kitsune started. She never managed to get out the rest of that, however, as she was too dumbfounded to speak, even after half an hour went by and the armies had left. Every other resident was in the same boat.

Keitaro was still standing on the roof with his residents that whole half hour. He was still standing where he had stood when he defeated the robot with its own flames. He was deep in thought and giving the girls time to process the crazy sight they saw. 'Well, there's no turning back now. They've seen too much to turn back,' he thought sadly.

"What...just happened?" Naru asked rhetorically, eyes still wide.

"Are we dreaming?" Sarah asked.

"Did we really see Urashima-san stop an enormous robot?" Motoko asked, just as disbelievingly.

Finally, one of them found their ability to move again and walked towards Keitaro slowly.

It was Naru who asked the next question. "Keitaro-san? Was that you? Did you just beat a robot the size of Hinata-sou and the hill combined without touching it?" It came out slowly, as if there was some caution behind it.

No reply.

"Answer me, you idiot!" Naru said, more firmly.

"Yes," Keitaro responded with a sigh and some drama.

"Have you always been able to do that?" Naru asked, not exactly as spirited as usual.

"Yes," he answered.

"Why have you not told us this before?" Motoko asked him, now joining him at his side.

"I...didn't want...to endanger you," Keitaro responded slowly.

"Endanger us? What would endanger us? I mean, besides the missile," Su asked.

"Knowing just what I can do," Keitaro answered. "You girls are taking seeing this much better than anyone else," he added. With this, he left the roof with his head hung low.

Nobody spoke for a moment. They were too dumbfounded to start a conversation and too in thought to contribute to one.

Finally, one girl got the wits to speak. Makes sense that it was the wittiest one.

"Well...that happened," the fox said.

Keitaro arrived at his room, thinking. 'Well, now they know. Man, that guy just _had_ to find time to bring a giant robot to the Hinata-Sou. Now the girls are in incredible danger because of him. Who was he, anyway? He seemed familiar, like from a while ago. And why was he after Narusegawa-san?' he asked himself. His stomach started rumbling. 'I guess I should get a snack, huh?' he mentally joked.

Getting up, he opened his door and went into the kitchen and got an apple. 'Well, I wonder when a good time to tell them is. After all, I can't keep them in the dark forever, especially after a show like that. They will probably ask me very soon. Maybe I'll tell them after their bath,' he agreed. Then he went to his room to take a nap after he had his apple.

Meanwhile, the girls were in the hot springs, trying to relax after seeing something like Keitaro saving their lives like that with only two moves. Catching a missile with one hand by the tip was impressive all on its own, but using the robot's fire to slice it in half was much more impressive. Plus, he was _flying_ in the air without assistance. Not to mention, this was the guy who always got beat up by four of the girls he lives with. The weak, hapless manager just saved them from something that took out the resident samurai/bodyguard with power that's...unseemly, to say the least. Unseemly strength and inexplicable fire manipulation certainly didn't seem very appropriate on a guy who kept getting a beatdown every day. Everyone was gossiping about it.

"It just doesn't make any sense. How did he do that? Has he always been able to do that? And how is it that he could do that, but he keeps getting bashed around by us?" Naru replied after sighing.

"Since when could Urashima-san defeat something that defeated me without any training or reflexes to use?" Motoko added.

"And what did he mean that he didn't want to endanger us?" Mutsumi asked.

"I know. And why would he hide this super cool person from us?" Kitsune added to the conversation of the crazy thing their 'helpless manager' just did.

"M-Maybe he had a good reason," Shinobu said.

"Yeah, maybe he didn't want Kitsune to take advantage of it," Su suggested cheerfully.

"That does sound like a thing Kitsune would do," Sarah pointed out.

"What? I would _not_!" Kitsune protested.

"Yeah, you would," Naru replied.

"It is certain," Motoko added.

"I think everyone agrees with Sarah-chan here," Mutsumi pointed out.

"Yeah," Su replied.

"Is that what everyone thinks of me?" Kitsune asked indignantly.

"Pretty much, yeah," everyone replied at the same time.

"Wow. That's just...wow," Kitsune replied, obviously unsure of what to say.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did we just render you speechless?" Naru teased, earning a laugh from every other girl in the bath.

"But seriously, though, should we ask him how he did that?" Sarah asked the other girls after the laughter died down.

"Yeah. How about after we get out of the hot springs?" Kitsune suggested.

"Okay," everyone agreed. Then, for another half hour, they were enjoying a relaxing soak to take their mind off of the crazy show they just saw, though the warm waters did little to soothe their minds after they were almost just taken out by a missile.

As they got out of the bath, Kitsune heard a rustling by the fence. She went over to the fence and was practically scared out of her skin when a wolf (A/N: an actual wolf, not a peeping wolf) jump through the fence and right at her. The wolf had a big black stripe on its back and a scar above its right eye. Kitsune threw her arms up in instinctive defense and screamed really loud, making the other residents turn around and see a horrible sight.

Kitsune was almost devoured by a wolf.

Almost.

But, surprisingly, the wolf started whimpering and ran off. Eventually, Kitsune finally had the nerve to open her eyes and see why she wasn't injured yet. She saw a wall of some purple energy right in front of her.

"Wha...?" she yelped in surprise.

"How did you do that?" Naru asked.

"I...don't know," Kitsune replied slowly, her eyes wide open now.

"Well, whatever you did, it scared the wolf away," Sarah replied.

"Yeah. I never knew you could do _that_!" Motoko replied.

"Neither did I," Kitsune responded.

"This is really weird," Mutsumi replied, still as ditzy as ever.

"I thought that wolves weren't even in Japan. I have to research that and see why that one wolf was here," Su wondered dismissively.

The girls hurried into the changing room and got changed as fast as possible, wanting to make sure that something like that could not happen again.

Meanwhile, in the living room, Keitaro was sitting there on the couch, watching some TV after his nap when the girls came into the room. He turned to greet them. "Oh, hey everyone. I needed to talk to you," he said, turning off the TV.

"Right, but first we needed to ask you a question," Kitsune replied.

"Okay, what is it?" Keitaro asked.

"How did you stop that giant robot?" Kitsune asked.

"Well, you see, I can't tell you everything right now, but I can tell you that Motoko-chan should be familiar with part of it. After all, I did imitate the Air Splitting Sword with that fire," Keitaro explained.

"WHAT?! WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!" Motoko yelled.

"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you. It's too dangerous to know the secret," Keitaro replied.

"Well, what are the consequences of telling us this secret, Urashima-san?" Motoko asked.

"Luring beings that make today's robot look like someone a rock could take on and defeat to Hinata-sou, that's what, Motoko-chan. I don't want you girls to suffer through that. I've already said too much," Keitaro replied. This caused all the other girls to yell "What?!".

"But you've barely said anything yet!" Su and Sarah whined.

"I know, I know. But, if I told you the truth, all of you would be in mortal danger. Your lives as you know them would be over and replaced with misery, just like my grandfather..." he answered. Nobody said anything for what felt like the longest time and what was actually a minute.

Finally, Kitsune gathered up enough nerve to speak. "Okay, I am seriously creeped out right now. First, the wolf attack, now this!" she exclaimed.

"Wait, what wolf attack?" Keitaro asked cautiously.

"Well, when we were getting out of the baths, a wolf came jumping through the fence right at me, but then some kind of wall made of some purple...energy popped up right in front of me. It scared the wolf away," Kitsune exclaimed.

"WHAT?! Oh, no. This is bad. This is really bad!" Keitaro panicked.

"What's bad? The fact that I somehow avoided an injury by a wolf?" Kitsune teased in mock grumpiness.

"No, you still living is good. The bad thing is that you have this shield power. It's the first sign of a certain energy that will spiral out of control if I don't teach you how to control it," Keitaro explained seriously.

"Wait, define 'out of control'" Kitsune commanded.

"'Out of control' meaning 'you start to uncontrollably destroy random things that you walk by, including any humans, buildings, or anything unlucky enough to be on the same planet as you'!" Keitaro groused.

"WHAT?!" everyone yelled.

"Which means that I have to train you to control your energy or it's 'Bye, bye, Earth' for every species on the planet. None of you are to watch her training. It's bad enough that she even _has_ these powers, and I don't need anybody learning what isn't meant for normal people," Keitaro commanded in a serious tone.

"Excuse me, but who are you to command us to do anything? In fact, isn't it usually the other way around?" Naru asked indignantly.

"Your only hope of survival and the only expert on this matter presently accessible to us," Keitaro answered firmly, eyes glowing slightly red.

"Huh?" Motoko said.

"Kitsune-chan, I know you want to go right to sleep after this, but I need to start your teaching right _now_, or else your energy level will rise overnight to the point where a beginner cannot contain it and an expert would have trouble. Can you come with me right now to my room?" Keitaro asked urgently.

"Okay," was all she said.

"Great. And, remember, girls, _no eavesdropping_! If you eavesdrop, you will be in even more danger than you are now," he warned, offering Kitsune his hand. She took it and followed the leader to her own room.

"Should we...?" Naru asked.

"I am not so sure. I didn't think we should listen to Urashima-san and eavesdrop on him until I heard his voice. It was...different...somehow. He seemed extremely concerned and serious. As much as I am loathe to admit it, I think we should listen to him for once," Motoko responded.

"Wow, Motoko-san. You sure know how to read people," Su joked, causing the others to giggle at her expense.

...

"Alright, Kitsune-chan. Are you ready for this?" Keitaro asked her.

"Yeah, yeah, Kei-kun, let's just get this over with. It's making you all serious," she replied.

"That's because it _is_ serious! You don't understand, Kitsune-chan! If you don't learn to control this, it is the _end of the world_! Your life has already changed a lot as it is. You have to take this seriously or you will endanger an entire planet filled with living creatures! You have to take this seriously!" Keitaro ranted.

"Alright, already. Just start already. What's the worst that could happen, anyway?" Kitsune asked dismissively.

"The end of the world, that's what! How about I just show you the worst that could happen?" Keitaro asked, raising his voice a little.

"Okay, already. If that's what it would take, then fine," Kitsune said, also raising her voice.

"Okay, then come here," he said, gesturing for her to come to him. She did just that and he put his hand on her head and faced her head to her left and his to the right. "Look," he said, putting his free hand out in front of him in that direction. An image shot out of his hand like a projector of a barren, deserted, destroyed world. There were remains of many different unidentifiable creatures strewn all about the landscape, all of which were contorted into strange positions that suggested that they were blasted away from something and kept that way. The place that used to be Tokyo was now just an area filled with ruins of buildings and stumps of where there used to be skyscrapers. The image showed the hill where Hinata-sou used to be, now a lump in the earth with a hole in it like a mantlepiece. And the worst part of this was that there was no sign of civilization anywhere. No moving veichles, no workers, no movement anywhere. Not even a tumbleweed.

"Whoa. This is more serious than I expected. Alright, I'll do it. Just teach me to not let this happen," Kitsune submitted fearfully. The image went away, faded into the scenery of the room. Her eyes were still wide open.

"Alright, Kitsune-chan. First off, you have a type of energy inside you called _psi_ energy. _Psi_ energy is short for psychic energy. It's the energy of the mind. It's what makes people inventive and what gives people empathy. Why do you think you're always so naturally clever, quick-witted, and manipulative? You would say that it just comes to you, right?" Keitaro started.

"Right," Kitsune replied.

"Right. Anyway, there are two kinds of _psi_ energy. There's the kind that gives people an exceptional grip on empathy and the emotions of those around them and there's the kind that gives people amazing creativity and nimbleness of mind. Guess what? You have the second kind. There are perks to both kinds, but each has its own exclusive perks as well as the ones that both of them get. Your kind of _psi_ energy, called mind energy, allows you to read a person's mind, for example, but both of them get telekinesis. You have had signs of _psi_ energy for a while, it would seem. I don't think anyone has managed to out-tease you yet, if ever. That's because you don't want anyone to manage to put one over your head, right?" Keitaro continued.

"Yeah, but how would you know that?" Kitsune asked.

"Because I have _psi_ energy, too. And, unlike you right now, I know how to control it so it doesn't hurt anyone," he answered.

"So you mean to tell me that the weird purple energy stuff that that wall was made out of-the wall that probably saved my life-was made out of some energy that comes from people's heads? And that I have to learn to control it or it can kill people with death falls and destroy all of civilization as we know it? Prove it," Kitsune demanded.

Keitaro searched around the room for an object to demonstrate on. He found a sheet of paper on his desk. He picked it up and showed it to Kitsune for emphasis.

"See this sheet of paper? Watch it closely," he instructed. She watched as he put the paper on the floor next to her current seated person. She saw him put his hand out as if to shake someone's hand. She witnessed in awe as the sheet of paper lifted off the ground slowly with a slight purple sparkle around it. She gasped as it lifted off the ground.

"Whoa!" she exclaimed.

"That's proof that _psi _energy exists..." Keitaro started. He then bent his hand very fast. A purple wave appeared above the paper and pushed it down to the ground extremely fast, causing Kitsune to gasp at the sudden fast movement.

"...that's proof that _psi_ energy can send living things on death trips..." Keitaro continued. He then pointed one finger from the hand he used first at the paper. A purple fire suddenly bursted out in the center of the paper spread outward on the paper, leaving a purple-glow-edged hole in the paper until the entire paper was consumed by the purple flame.

"...and that's proof that _psi_ could end civilization as we know it," Keitaro finished.

"...Wow. What just happened?" Kitsune asked, freaked out.

"Well, I just used _psi_ energy to lift, slam, and burn a sheet of paper. Got any doubts now?" he asked jokingly.

"Okay, I get it. This cool 'psi energy' stuff is real and I have some extra. But why do I have it? And why do _you_ have it?" she asked.

"Well, the Hinata-sou may have had some part in it. It has special qualities that strengthen friendships, as well as energy. You know Motoko-chan's _ki_ attacks? The ones she hits me with every day? Those were partially strengthened by her friendships with all of you girls because it is one of the energies that are boosted by the Hinata-sou. So is _psi_ energy and other energies in this world. However, you were only able to create a _psi_ shield after you saw me using these energies to save you girls from a robot and a missile. I think you were thinking about me," he concluded. This put a blush on her face and a protest about how she wasn't thinking about him. He started chuckling. "No, I mean that you were thinking about how I did what I did, not what you're thinking of just now. And, for your information, I discovered my pSI energy after I met my sister. Energies are discovered after great moments in life, like graduating from high school or getting a driver's license or seeing your 'weak' manager defeat a robot that is much larger than your house or any of those other rare events that bring you great joy. Of course, another rare event is being in a group of friends like we have here at the Hinata-sou. But, anyway, do you believe me _now_?" he continued.

"Well, yeah! My life would be a lot easier if I could do that thing you did with the paper on sake! Can I learn?" Kitsune replied with a question.

"Sure, Kitsune-chan," Keitaro agreed.

"Sweet! Thanks, Kei-kun!" she asked, smiling.

"Alright, now, to get rid of all the excess _psi_ energy, you need to launch it upward to the sky. It will just dissipate in space because space has no energy at all. If you don't do this, you will build up too much energy and you will destroy things without trying and eventually explode with the excess energy. You were lucky that it was a wall that your excess _psi_ energy formed and not something more dangerous. Now, to blast the energy into space, you need to tap into it first, which requires a partner the first time. I'll just do it for you since you need it done fast," Keitaro explained. He pointed four of his fingers at her. She felt as if she could feel the whole inside of her body. Every vein, every bone, everything. It was as if her senses became hyper-tuned to the point where she could sense her own blood coursing through her veins. She could also hear so many things, like the train headed out of Hinata for Kyoto. Of course, she could hear everything in her body at once as well, which made her wince.

"Alright, now just try to focus on what you want to sense, rather than everything. For now, focus on the sound of my voice," he instructed. She did just that and her head stopped getting the overload from her senses. What replaced that painful feeling was a sensation that she could only describe as a sense of extra energy in her mind. She could think much more clearly and even sense the presence of others in the city. Surprisingly, the other residents of Hinata-sou were in the living room, talking to each other rather than eavesdropping like Keitaro and Kitsune expected. She could sense all the people at the train station, walking on the street, even the ones in their apartments doing their paperwork.

"Whoa. It's like I can sense everything in the city!" Kitsune said with all the same wonderment of one of the kids in a candy store she could sense. Which is to say a lot.

"And now you need to point one finger up to the sky and imagine the energy shooting up and out of your finger until you can't sense any farther than the Hinata-sou. This is how you get rid of excess _psi_ energy. If you don't do this, you will eventually explode and obliterate the world around you, including you," Keitaro explained.

Kitsune did just that. She saw a stream of the purple energy we call _psi_ up and into the great black sky.

"Wow, Kei-kun! That was actually a great feeling, being able to sense all of the people around me. Now, how do you do the 'telekinesis' you were demonstrating earlier?" she asked.

"Well, I suppose I could teach you that tonight before we have to go to sleep. All you have to do is reach out with your _psi_ energy and hook it onto something, like this book. Why don't you give it a try?" he said, gesturing for her to do it. She did as she was instructed and, just like he said it would, she lifted the book with her _psi_ energy, a faint purple tendril reaching out to pick up the book.

"Sweet! I'm doing it!" Kitsune cheered, still lifting the book.

"Good job Kitsune-chan. Now make sure you don't-" Keitaro started, but Kitsune was already making a mad dash for the living room.

"-show the girls what I showed you!" he yelled after her. He sighed. 'This is going to be tough to explain,' he complained to himself. 'Well, at least she can't tell them about the other energies,' he thought optimistically, holding up his hand and showing a gray orb of some other type of energy with four other orbs of various energies and colors, one of them _psi _energy, around it, all linked to the gray one by a gray string. This only appeared for a second, though, and disappeared afterwards.

...

Meanwhile, in an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts from Tokyo, a certain scar-eyed wolf was barking at the entrance. After five straight minutes of barking, a man finally opened the door. He wore a fancy white suit with a bow tie.

Inside the warehouse, the man turned to the wolf and noticed that it did not come back with the remains of one of the residents of the HInata-sou, but rather it came back with a whine and sad puppy eyes. The man tossed the wolf a piece of meat too meager to be considered a meal. "Urashima-san, you are tougher than I thought. Defeating me like that and scaring my wolf. Well, I guess I should give a little more effort. I can do some unspeakable things to you. Things that put this cruddy wolf to shame." The man was surprisingly calm about this whole loss. He then kicked the wolf, knocking it unconscious. "Get ready, Urashima-san. I'm coming for you."

|\/\/|

And that's chapter two, everyone.

Kitsune: Aw, man, really? That is _so_ cliche! Having some mysterious guy talk about his hatred of the main character? Dude, get some new material!

Chris: Hey, cliche is kinda my thing. I'm eight and I know most of the words to the song 'Sweet Home Alabama' and I like a bunch of other seventies' songs.

Motoko: I just hope you make this a good story. All we know it that Kitsune has powers now.

Chris: Well, I have a grand scheme of this story, so you are left in my hands.

Sarah: In what world is that a good thing?

Chris: My world. Bye readers.


	3. Chapter 3: Just Another Average Day

A/N: Hey, people. I am back. This time, I have not much to say, so I'll make this fast. Disclaimer: I don't own Love Hina, Ken Akamatsu does. If he or anyone who owns it asks me to take this down, I will because I don't have any money. Alright, now, I have decided to only do those silly author's notes only when I have something to say other than the disclaimer, and it'll be serious. Maybe. Anyway, STORY START!

August 5-Hey, everyone. School is starting for me next week, so updates may take longer until I get a break, which I'll mention in the author's notes.

|/\/\|

Kitsune woke up the next morning. 'Oh. I'm in my room. Hmm...maybe that was all a dream. After all, Kei-kun beating a giant robot? Yeah, right. Unlikely. Now, I wonder what I can do today...' she thought, taking the covers off and seeing her hand. She stared at it for a couple seconds. 'Well, only one way to find out,' she thought skeptically, using the telekinesis she learned in her 'dream' on a sake bottle on the shelf in her room. She was completely surprised to find that she could lift the bottle from where she sat in the futon. She gasped, dropping the bottle that was floating in midair. It landed and shattered, the purple sparkle gone.

That's when Naru showed up in her doorway.

"Kitsune-san? What's wrong? I heard breaking glass," she asked, concerned for her friend.

"Oh, it's okay, Naru-san. One of the bottles I put on that shelf the other day fell off of the shelf, so now I have to clean that mess up," she lied, swiftly figuring out that it was bad to tell her friend she lifted that sake bottle from the futon after what the manager had showed her.

Naru scoffed, shaking her head at her friend. "You know, Kitsune-san, you need to be more careful," she warned. "By the way, I had the weirdest dream last night. I dreamt that there was a giant robot that almost destroyed the hill," she said.

"Oh. You don't say," she replied, trying her best to sound believable. And she remembered the rest of the story that Naru wasn't admitting, unbeknownst to her.

"Yeah," Naru said.

"Well, good thing it was only a dream, then, right?" Kitsune said.

"Yeah, I guess," Naru said dismissively. "See you down at breakfast," she waved.

"Yeah," Kitsune replied. Once her friend was out of range, she looked at the floor where the bottle of sake had spilled. 'Great. Now I have to tell Kei-kun to clean that up,' she thought with a sigh, putting on daytime clothes.

...

"Mmm! Your food is as great as usual, Shinobu-chan!" Keitaro complimented the small chef.

"Thanks, Sempai," Shinobu said gratefully, blushing from the praise.

"You really fo have a talent for food!" Naru said.

"Thanks, Naru-sempai," Shinobu said, blushing a little redder.

Kitsune remained quiet the whole time, which was quite unusual for her. Her friends only noticed this when she would usually compliment Shinobu's food but remained silent again.

"Hey, is something wrong, Kitsune-san?" Naru asked her friend.

"N-No, I'm okay. Uh...your food is good, Shinobu-chan," she stuttered.

"Thanks, Kitsune-san," Shinobu replied with a smile.

Her friends, however, were not so convinced. 'Hmm...seems odd. Why would Kitsune-san stutter? She _never_ stutters, even in the mornings,' Naru thought.

'This is very odd. Kitsune-san seems preoccupied this morning,' Motoko observed.

'What's making her so spacey?' Mutsumi wondered.

Kitsune was no fool, however. She could see her story wasn't very believed. "I was up all night," she added. This did nothing to get them off of her case, though. 'I'll just stop talking now,' she decided.

Her friends just shrugged and went back to enjoying their breakfast.

...

After breakfast, everyone went different ways. Motoko went to the roof to train, Naru went to the hot springs, Shinobu went to the kitchen to clean the dishes, Su and Sarah went to explore the hidden passages. Mutsumi went to the living room to watch some TV, and Kitsune went to Keitaro's room to ask him about the previous night to make sure she wasn't just dreaming. Keitaro, meanwhile, was studying.

That's when he heard a knock at the door.

"Come on in," he said. That's when Kitsune slid the door open and walked to stand in front of the manager of the dorm. "Oh, hey, Kitsune-chan. What can I do for you?" he asked, turning to look at her.

"Listen, about last night...Did you really show me how to use this purple energy?" she asked.

"Yeah, I did. Don't worry, I'll teach you more. You'll become better with it. And, don't worry, I'll clean up that sake mess in your room after dinner. Also, I know you're wondering how I'm answering your questions before you ask them. I can read your mind, too, remember?" he said.

"Okay. Well, can we start right now?" Kitsune asked.

"You want to learn _now_?" he asked.

"Well, It would probably be better to learn how to take advantage of this ability than to ignore it," she explained.

"Well, okay. I can teach you," he agreed.

"Great. What do I learn first?" she asked.

"Well, first, we've got to get somewhere where nobody can watch or listen to us. Remember, we have to keep this a secret. We don't want the world to find out about this, either. I don't think the world is ready to discover these powers. People will try to abuse it or take advantage of it for themselves, especially gangs. Which reminds me, don'T use these powers in public. It's just too risky," he answered.

"Alright, how about the forest behind the hill?" Kitsune suggested.

"That'll work. Now, let's go," he said. "Come on. I can get us there faster," he added, gesturing for her to grab his wrist. Once she did that, he pointed two fingers down at the ground. Kitsune watched in fascination as the world sped by in an instant. The wind turned her short hair into a mess that was windswept behind her. Then she looked around to see that they were in the forest behind the Hinata hill when they were in the manager's room just a second ago.

"Whoa. What just happened?" Kitsune asked.

"Well, I just ran us to the forest behind the hill. See? There's the house," he said, pointing to the back of the HInata-sou.

"But how did we get back here so fast?" she asked in amazement.

"Well, lets just say that psI energy isn't the only 'mystical energy' that exists," he replied enigmatically.

"So, you used some other 'energy' to move us to here in one second?" she asked amazedly.

"Yes. But I can't tell you any more than that," he said.

"Okay. Just start my training," Kitsune said.

"Wow. You seem eager," Keitaro observed.

"I guess you rubbed off on me," she responded.

"What part of me seems eager?" he asked.

"Well, you were _eager_ to work here and do all the cleaning," Kitsune pointed out.

"Well, alright, then. Fair enough," he said. "Now, first, you need to learn the secret to this energy...light."

...

Naru was in the hot springs, thinking of her odd 'dream'. 'Wow. What a dream. Keitaro-san beat a robot without breaking a sweat. I can't believe I dreamed something like that. I mean, I think I like him, but there's no way he could do all that. Sure, he's indestructible, but how could he even do anything besides keep getting hit by the robot? That was really unrealistic for a dream,' she thought. 'And what was Kitsune-san doing with all that power? How come I had this crazy dream? It seems too realistic to be a dream, but there's no way that was real. Seriously, This is too confusing,' she thought, sighing and relaxing into the steamy water. She heard water moving around her and looked to see who it was. "Oh, hey, Motoko-san. I thought you were training," she said.

"Well, I could not clear my mind. I had an absurd dream last night," Motoko explained.

"Really? I had a crazy dream, too," Naru responded.

"Oh? What was it about?" Motoko asked, sounding intrigued.

"Well, our manager was a hero for some reason and Kitsune-san started getting these weird...powers," Naru said.

"What? But...But that was _my_ absurd dream, too!" Motoko responded.

"What? Then that means we had the same dream! Which means...it was real? Keitaro-san really destroyed an enormous robot?" Naru asked rhetorically.

"It was real?!" Motoko shouted.

"Wait, how could this be real? That idiot can barely do math. How could he possibly beat a giant robot?" Naru reasoned.

Just then, though, a purple ball came hurtling into the hot springs, gaining the girls' attention.

"What was that?" Naru asked.

"I do not know. Let us go check it out," Motoko said, Naru following her to the spot where they heard the splash. They saw a glowing purple ball.

"Huh? What is this?" Motoko asked, picking up the purple ball.

"I don't know. Who's is this?" Naru asked, turning it around.

"I do not know. Although it looks like it belongs to Su-chan," Motoko observed.

"Yeah, it looks like it. Who else creates weird and often dangerous inventions every day?" Naru asked, sounding very annoyed.

"Wait, should we not be careful with this mysterious object? If Su-chan made it, wouldn't it be dangerous?" Motoko asked.

"Oh. Good point. You know, we should give it back to her," Naru pointed out.

"Yes," Motoko agreed.

**After the bath**

Naru just wiped her face with a towel. Tama flew into the room and landed on the back of her neck. She was drying herself off before she got changed. Motoko was turned away from her on the other side of the changing room, doing the same.

"So, should we ask him right now?" Naru asked.

"Yes. I believe Urashima-san has much explaining to do on this subject. If this absurd reality is indeed real, he has been hiding this from us from the start, and he needs to reveal it. How dare he try to hide this from us!" Motoko swore.

"I know! It just doesn't make any sense! I mean, we're his friends! Why would he hide something like this from us?" Naru asked indignantly.

"Well, according to the dream, he hid this secret from us to protect us from something," Motoko pointed out.

"But what could _he_ possibly protect _us_ from?" Naru asked.

"Hmm...I have heard tales of men who became power crazy upon discovering powers like those we witnessed yesterday. These men were vengeful people who would use their full effort to find a way to receive these powers, starting with finding out about any people who knew of their existence. These people were often very different from one another, but they were all often very stupid in one way or the other," Motoko explained.

"Oh. Is that all?" Naru deadpanned.

"Yes. Although I don't know how wimpy little Urashima-san could protect us from _them_. They often got extremely powerful from their ambition. My sister told me about them. Basically, they teamed up and relentlessly searched for people possessing these abilities. I believe the Shinmei-ryu called one of these gangs 'Fūrisshu• Doragonzu (The Foolish Dragons)'" Motoko said. "Anyway, shall we go?" she asked.

"Yeah, let's go," Naru said, turning for the door. Motoko was about to walk behind her when she froze in place. Naru noticed that Motoko stopped following her and turned around. "Come on, Motoko-san. Why are you just staring at me like I'm the devil or something?" she asked, confused.

"T-T-T-T-TURTLE!" Motoko yelled, pointing to Naru's neck and fainting.

"Hmm?" Naru said, turning to look where Motoko was pointing. "Oh, Tama-chan! Don't scare her like that!" she scolded.

"Myu..." Tama voiced sadly, bending his(her?) neck.

"Beware, Tama-chan! I'm coming for you!" came the cheerful shouts of Su, followed by the footfalls of her and her friend, Sarah.

"Mi!" Tama said, flying away from them.

"Get back here, Tama-chan!" Sarah shouted after him, chasing him with Su.

Naru chuckled slightly in spite of herself. "Oh, those girls!" she said, rubbing the back of her head and smiling. "So much energy. Where do they get their stamina?" she asked rhetorically, heading over to Motoko to drag her unconscious body to her room. ...Nope, no way to make that not sound creepy.

...

**Three hours later, at eleven forty-five**

"You seem to be understanding this a lot faster than I thought, Kitsune-chan. You already know how to use _psi_ for telekinesis, geo-leaping, energy shields, psychic fire, energy blades, and super-senses. You learn fast, Kitsune-chan," Keitaro complimented, staring at some of the fallen trees and charred leaves.

"Well, I guess I have a great teacher," she said back.

"Uh, thanks," Keitaro said, smiling.

"So, can I learn how to read other people's minds?" Kitsune asked.

"You already know how, Kitsune-chan," Keitaro told her.

"What? I do? When did I learn?" she asked.

"Well, you're a very clever person, Kitsune-chan. You can read a person by looking at them. All you need to do is learn to use psI and you can read people's minds. Try analyzing me the same way you normally do, only use some of your _psi_ energy in the process. Try to read what number I'm thinking of. Then we'll take a break for lunch," Keitaro instructed.

"Okay. Let me try," she said. She focused for a second. "Uhh...I'm seeing sushi, not a number," she asked.

"Hmm. That's odd. Try again," Keitaro suggested.

"Okay, umm...What the heck? I'm seeing ramen! What is this?!" she asked, clearly frustrated that she had trouble.

"Hmm...you seem to be having trouble with this. It's okay, though. It took me a while to master that, too. Try practicing later," Keitaro suggested.

"Okay. Man, this stinks. I know how to do anything with _psi_ energy except reading minds!" Kitsune groused, clearly still fazed by her trouble. Changing the subject, she asked, "So, wait, how do you know so much about this stuff, anyway?"

"I can't say much, but...I mastered a few energies, Kitsune-chan," Keitaro said enigmatically.

"Okay. Can you explain that more?" Kitsune requested, sounding annoyed.

"I will, but later, Kitsune-chan," Keitaro answered.

'Great. I got nothing out of him,' Kitsune groused mentally.

"I heard that, Kitsune-chan," Keitaro said.

"Heard what?" Kitsune asked.

"I know you were trying to get something out of me," he said, smiling.

"I was not," Kitsune stuttered a protest.

"Admit it, you were," Keitaro said jokingly.

"...Dang it, caught me," she groused, getting Keitaro to chuckle. "How did you catch me, anyway?" she asked.

"Well, I can read minds, can't I?" he joked.

"Hey, no fair!" Kitsune laughed, playfully shoving Keitaro. They were laughing all the way back to the Hinata-sou, apparently forming a better friendship. You know, one without lots of painful jokes or unpaid loans. (sorry, Kitsune fans :(. Well, for the insult.)

'You know, he actually looks kind of...manly...like that time he was really focused in his studies and he didn't fall for my charms. Hmm...maybe I can have a shot at him,' she thought, blushing slightly.

...

Shinobu was busy cooking lunch in the kitchen. She tasted her soup. 'Hmm. Needs some salt. I seem to be less focused and making more corrections after we all saw Sempai beat that robot. He really was heroic...Auuuuu! Stop blushing, Shinobu! Someone could see!' she thought, scolding herself for blushing about Keitaro while not having total privacy.

"Hiya, Shinobu-chan!" Su yelled, hanging from the ceiling right in front of Shinobu, startling the poor young chef.

"Gyah!" was Shinobu's startled noise as she backpedaled from being startled so fast again. 'Speak of the devil,' she thought.

"What's for lunch? And why were you blushing? Are you thinking of Keitaro-san?" Su asked innocently, the goofy grin that was a Su trademark plastered on her face.

"AAAH! No, I wasn't thinking of Sempai! I-I was blushing because...it's hot in here!" she replied, fast and flustered. "Oh, and I made miso soup, shrimp tempura, and smoked salmon teriyaki," she added, cool as a cucumber.

"Ooh! Sounds good!" Sarah said, popping up right next to Shinobu as fast as Su.

"Gah! Stop _doing_ that!" Shinobu yelled in protest, again arching her back backwards, away from Sarah, in surprise.

"Oh. Whoops, sorry! Heheh," Sarah apologized meekly, rubbing the back of her head.

"So, Shinobu-chan, what did you think of Keitaro-san's little show?" Sarah asked.

"Wh-What do you mean, Sarah-chan?" Shinobu asked, blushing a little more.

"Well, that dork has these cool powers all of a sudden. What do you think of that?" Sarah asked.

"W-Well, I think he's even cooler now. Wait, did I just say that? Auuuu...please don't tell anyone!" Shinobu responded, pleading for discretion.

"Relax, Shinobu-san. I won't tell anyone," Sarah said. Yet, in her head, she said, 'Wow. She still seems a little shy talking about the dork, even though all she's doing is saying he's "cooler"'

"Don't worry, Shinobu-chan! I will say nothing about this!" Su promised.

Shinobu sighed with relief. "Thank you," she said gratefully. "How about you, Sarah-chan? What do you think about this?" Shinobu asked.

"Well, I can't believe that it's the dork that gets superpowers, but I guess it's still kind of cool he got those powers in the first place. Plus, I have never read a comic book from America where the hero beat the villain that easily," Sarah explained.

"I like this a lot! It means I can test my most dangerous inventions on Keitaro-san and he can survive! And not get launched to Kyoto! Three perks in one deal! AWESOME!" Su yelled, jumping around like a crazed man.

"...Ooookay," Shinobu awkwardly responded.

...

**Five minutes later**

Naru was studying in her room with Mutsumi, who had joined her not five minutes ago. She was still a little shocked that wimpy little Keitaro could beat a robot as big as the hill and the house with a few crazy and seemingly-impossible actions. This was the reason she was not nearly as far into the practice problems as usual. This was something Mutsumi noticed.

"Ara, ara, Naru-chan. You seem distracted. What's wrong?" she asked.

"Hmm? AAH! Mutsumi-san? When did you get here?" Naru asked.

"I came in five minutes ago," she answered.

"How come you didn't tell me?!" Naru asked indignantly.

"I thought you knew I was here," Mutsumi said.

"How would I know that?" Naru asked.

"Well, I was coming up here and I saw Shinobu-chan walking up here with a tray with snacks and tea and I said I would bring the tray up to you. Then I decided I would start studying with you," Mutsumi explained calmly with a smile on her face.

"Oh," Naru said, noticing the tray for the first time.

"So, why are you so distracted?" Mutsumi asked.

"I'm not!" Naru denied.

"Yeah, you are. Wait...you're still shocked that Kei-kun could do what he did, huh?" Mutsumi asked.

"W-What? Where would you get that?" Naru asked. 'Sh-She's right!' she thought.

"Hmm...Huh. Where _would_ I get that?" Mutsumi asked. Naru facefaulted at this.

"Why are you asking _me_? I wouldn't know!" Naru yelled incredulously.

"Huh. Oh, well," Mutsumi shrugged. 'Where _did_ I get that?' Mutsumi asked herself.

'I don't know. It's like I could see it without trying,' a voice in her head told her.

'Yeah, and it felt so easy, too,' another voice observed.

'Hmm...maybe I should ask Kei-kun tonight,' the first voice decided.

'Hey, who made you the boss?' the second voice asked the first indignantly.

'Our mother,' the first answered happily.

'Oh. Okay, carry on,' the first voice responded.

...

Motoko awoke in her room, on the futon. She sat up, rubbing her head. She had a headache. "What happened?" she groaned. That's when the memories came back to her. 'Oh, yeah. I was going to follow Narusegawa-san when I saw the monster on her back. Then it overcame me with its death stare and I passed out,' she concluded from the memories she had.

Suddenly, she got a knock on her door. She also heard a slight ripping sound. "Yes?" she asked alertly.

"It's me, Shinobu. I just want to tell you lunch is about ready," the Hinata-sou's second-youngest resident told her.

"Okay, thank you, Shinobu-san. I will be there in a minute.

"Okay. Oh, by the way, sorry for the rip in the door. I don't know how I did that," Shinobu responded.

"It is okay, Shinobu-san. Besides, it's not my job to fix the door," she said, staring at the hole in the paper door with a sigh, making a mental note to change out of sight of the hole in the door. Also, to tell the manager she made mental note number one for about the hole in the door.

Meanwhile, Shinobu was still blushing lightly from embarrasment. 'I don't know how I did that, but now I'm afraid to hug people,' she thought. Then Su ran by with Sarah. Only, Sarah was running on the wall while Su was running across the ceiling. "Hey, hey, hey, Shinobu-chan! Let's go! I want to study something using missiles and lasers! Want to come?" Su asked, still standing on the ceiling.

"Uhh...as fun as that sounds..." Shinobu said cautiously, "...I have to tell everyone that lunch is almost ready."

"Oh, okay. Oh, hey, Motoko-chan, thanks for the ball, by the way. My new chimpanzees love it!" she commented.

"Su-chan, I gave that to you could find out what it is, not to give it to some monkeys! And where would you even get those, anyway?" Motoko commented, getting a sweatdrop, just like Shinobu.

"Well, I couldn't figure it out for the life of me, so I just gave it to the chimps. Which I bought from the store. Anyway, bye!" Su answered. Then she literally started running on the ceiling from where she left off, just like how she came by, while Sarah kept up with her on the wall again.

Meanwhile, Shinobu and Motoko's eyes were wide as drums. They stayed that way for a moment.

Finally, after that moment of silence, Motoko spoke up. She said, "Even though I have known those girls for a while, they still shock me. How are they running on something other than the floor?" Motoko asked.

"Well, I guess they have lots of energy," Shinobu pointed out, smiling.

"I suppose you're right," Motoko said, looking in the direction that they ran. Which is why she was staring at the door to Su's room, even after Shinobu left. (A/N: Motoko's room is right next to Su's in the manga and anime) 'Where _do_ they get that stamina?' Motoko asked herself.

...

Keitaro, meanwhile, was sitting in his room, trying to study even though he had so much mental rush-hour traffic. Finally, though, he saw that it was getting him nowhere to do both at the same time and put down the pen he was holding.

'Well...now that I think about it, those girls wouldn't just be able to forget something like that show yesterday. Or the one where Kitsune-chan scared that wolf away with the psI wall she put up. *sigh* I must tell them. I may have been lying about who I was, but there is no way I can let them go by like this without knowing what's going on. In fact, if I don't train them now, they might do something foolish and awaken or summon something too powerful for me alone. Then I'd have to call the other _Kami no Hogo-sha_ (Guardians of God) for help. And all of them hate helping people!' he thought.

'Alright, it's settled then. We'll tell them tonight. Call a meeting in the living room and confess just what we are,' another voice in his head spoke out.

'I guess that's a good plan,' another voice said.

'Yeah, definitely!" another voice in his head said cheerfully.

'Ara, just where did all these voices come from?' another voice asked.

'Well, think about it. We live with seven completely diverse girls, all of which tolerate us. Not to mention, these are our friends you're talking about, you baka!' another voice said.

'Well, doesn't that make _you _the baka as well? After all, you _are_ me,' another pointed out playfully,

'And yet there's a you that's not me that's a baka,' the overly confident voice zinged back.

'Oooh!' six of the other voices replied.

'You going to take that?' one of the more childish voices said.

'P-P-Please just stop fighting! We look like one massive idiot right now!' the shy voice pointed out.

'Myuh!' another agreed.

'Oh, sure. Agree with the turtle!' the voice said.

"Ehh, Kei-kun...what is going on?" a voice came from the door. All of the Keitaro voices focused attention on Kitsune, as they were all in a visible thought bubble for some reason.

'Oh, hey, Kitsune-chan. This is just how I imagine my mind,' one of the voices replied.

"Oh. I see," she replied, talking like the person on the other side of the conversation was a total loon. She sat down to join Keitaro at the kotatsu, sitting on his left. Then the thought bubble disappeared and Keitaro's eyes came back into focus.

"So, how much of that conversation did you hear?" Keitaro asked.

"The whole thing," Kitsune said. 'Yeah, Kei-kun. It's not hard to spy on people here,' she added mentally.

"I know it isn't. Anyway, want to talk about it?" Keitaro asked.

"Wait, how did you...? Oh, yeah. You could start with why you plan to tell them even though you insisted on keeping it a secret yesterday," Kitsune replied.

"Well, I figured that they would figure it out sooner or later just with what they saw yesterday and the news reports of the falling robot. So, I'm prepared to tell them everything they need to know so they at least don't do something stupid like raise the dead," he explained

"I see. Wait, raise the dead?! Is that even possible?" Kitsune asked.

"Well, technically, yes, but it turns the one who tries it into a sort of 'zombie king'," he responded. Kitsune just blinked twice. "What? It's happened!" he added.

That's when Naru poked her head through the hole between the rooms and saw her friend in his room. She asked, "Uh, Keitaro-san, what is Kitsune-san doing in your room?" she asked.

"We were just talking about something," Keitaro said.

"What was this 'something'?" Naru asked skeptically.

"Something secret," Kitsune responded.

"Ooookay...Well, I need to ask you a question, Keitaro-san," Naru said, dropping through the hole and taking a seat across from Kitsune, visibly trying to reign in her temper. Keitaro took a drink of his tea and put the cup on his right on the table.

"Sure, Narusegawa-chan, what is it?" he asked gently.

"I need to ask you about-" was all she could get out before Keitaro put his hand up to stop her for a second.

"Wait, Narusegawa-chan, is this about-?" was all _he _could get out before he realized that his hand swung into the tea cup, knocking it over and spilling all the tea into...

"AAAHHH! You spilled tea all over my skirt!" ...Naru's lap.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Keitaro said, desperately looking around for the napkins he knew he put on the table. He found them and reached to wipe her skirt off.

"What are you doing?!" Naru yelled, smacking Keitaro out the window and picking up the napkin he dropped. Kitsune was only chuckling half-heartedly this time, though, instead of laughing like she was in a craze.

...

Meanwhile, on the other side of Tokyo, a man by the name of Keitaro Urashima was flying to the junkyard. You don't even want to know what he landed in, but let's just say that it left his clothes ripped, dirty, and smelling like manure, rotten bananas, and a blender.

"Oh, man! Shinobu-chan is going to faint when she sees my clothes in this condition!" he comments.

"Oh, hey, Keitaro-san! You need a lift?" the man in the garbage truck asked.

"Yeah. Thanks, Koichiro-san," he said, getting onto the garbage man's truck.

"Anytime, kid," he responded, driving towards the Hinata-sou.

...

**Lunchtime, noon**

Everyone was gathered at the lunch table, the meal on the table. Everyone was sitting and talking to each other, waiting for the one missing person. But someone was getting impatient.

"Awww! Where is he? It's lunchtime! I want to eat!" Su whined.

"Oh, Naru-san launched him again. How many yen are you willing to bet that he landed in the junkyard again?" Kitsune asked, chuckling.

"What did that lecherous male do _this_ time?" Motoko asked, sounding annoyed.

"He tried reaching for my lap after he spilled tea on me!" Naru said indignantly.

"Actually, he had a napkin," Mutsumi said calmly.

"How do you know that?" Su asked.

"Uh...yeah, how _do _I know that?" she asked. Everyone facepalmed at this.

"Again, how would _we _know? Why are you asking us?" Naru asked again.

"Oh, Sempai's back!" Shinobu said as everyone heard the front door close.

Sarah sniffed the air. "Aw, man! Who farted?" she complained,

"Um, actually, that smell is the blender I crashed into," came the voice of Keitaro from the door. Everyone's gaze focused on the burnt-brown man in the doorway of the kitchen and immediately realized that was the very mucky Keitaro that landed on the remains of a stupidly-destroyed blender and the closest farm's trash. Everyone gasped, then coughed at the loss of clean air. They were waving their hands in front of their faces like something blew up.

"Aw, Kei-kun! Man, that's nasty! Where did you land?" Kitsune asked, voice nasally.

"A junkyard," he answered.

"A junkyard in a swamp?" Naru asked incredulously, voice nasally from covering her nose.

"Worse," he said.

"What could be worse than a swamp? Oh, never mind!" Motoko said, voice as nasally as everyone else.

"Yeah, I'll just go bathe now. Shinobu-chan, could you save me some lunch? Thanks," he asked, thanking her after she nodded her head.

Once he was out of the room, the girls released their held breath.

"Great. Now it stinks in here," Sarah whined.

"I can fix it. Stand back, everyone," Motoko said, gesturing for everyone to get behind her. Then she shouted, "HIKEN: JAKUZANKŪSEN!" (A/N: that means Hidden Sword Technique: Lesser Air Cutting Flash. This blows objects far away, according to the wikia page of Shinmei-ryū on the Love Hina Wikia page). Everyone heard a loud gust of wind and noticed that the air was clear of the stench and that the table was clear of napkins, chopsticks, and silverware. Hearing all the clatter of the eating utensils slamming into the wall and falling to the floor all at once-and pushed by air-made them all jump back in surprise.

"Gah! That was loud," Sarah said pointedly.

"How did you do that?" Naru asked.

"Did I not already explain it? Oh, I can see that I did not. Well, you see, I have trained myself to be able to manipulate _ki_ energy," Motoko explained.

"_Ki e_nergy? Is it good to eat?" Su asked innocently.

"Well, you don't eat it, Su-chan. _Ki_ energy is the force of life. It is why the heart does not tire out like the muscles in our arms do.

"Members of the Shinmei-ryū discipline learn to channel their _ki_ energy to their environment. I learned almost every sword technique the senseis had to teach us," Motoko explained.

"'Almost'?" Kitsune asked.

"I ran away before I could master them all. Plus, the elders were still deliberating my request to learn the last secret of _ki_ energy," Motoko explained.

"I see," Naru said.

Cue the long silence.

"Umm...should we pick up the utensils and start eating lunch?" Shinobu asked after the silence passed.

"Uh...yeah," Naru said, joining everyone in picking up all of the utensils off the floor, rinsing them in the sink, and grabbing new ones from the drawer.

...

**After lunch**

'Aw, man! That was one of my only good shirts! Oh, well. I guess I have to buy more new clothes now," Keitaro sighed. He was checking his closet to see if he had any presentable clothes left. His old shirt got torn in places and all dirty from the manure and radioactive blender he landed in. He grabbed a shirt and a pair of pants and grabbed his wallet.

He headed downstairs through the living room to the front door, where Kitsune was watching horse races with some sake and Mutsumi was playing with Tama using Kitsune's empty sake bottles.

"Come on, Tama-chan. You can get a strike," she said encouragingly. Tama started flying towards the ten sake bottles on the other side of the couch.

"Did he get a strike?" Kitsune asked distractedly, still paying attention to the TV.

"Nope. She got a spare," Mutsumi said as they heard glass breaking. They both looked over to see Tama flying out the window.

"Can we please not play indoor baseball with Tama-chan?" Haruka's voice requested from the door.

"I thought she was Tama bowling," Kitsune said confusedly. Mutsumi just shrugged.

"Oh, hey, Kei-kun, where are you going?" Kitsune asked, turning to look at him.

"I have to go to the store to get some new clothes. Most of my old ones are either beaten up, too dirty to clean, or very torn up," he answered.

"Ooh, can I come? I need some more sake," Kitsune asked.

"Okay," Keitaro consented.

"I wanna come, too! I wanted to pick up some more watermelons," Mutsumi said. This caused Haruka to raise an eyebrow.

"Uh...sure, Mutsumi-chan," Keitaro said. Kitsune turned off the TV and got up with Mutsumi to stand next to Keitaro. After they grabbed their purses, of course.

Then Naru came into the room, looking for Keitaro. "Oh, hi Haruka. When did you get here?" Naru asked.

"Oh, I needed to give Keitaro-san a fax," Haruka asked.

"Do you know where he went?" Naru asked.

"Yeah. He went to the mall with Kitsune-san and Mutsumi-san. He needed new clothes," Haruka answered.

"Oh," Naru said. That's not what she was thinking, though. She was thinking more along the lines of, 'WHAT? Kitsune-san _and_ Mutsumi-san? Is he going to try something?'

...

The trio just mentioned, meanwhile, was walking out of the mall with their purchased items in hand: clothes, sake, and a wagon with watermelons. Keitaro also bought a chili dog for each of them from an international food cart, which he was happily eating. (A/N: I don't know if that's actually a thing or if you can actually find it in Japan. Maybe someone could tell me in a review? I'm only eight, I wouldn't know.)

"Mm, this is good! What was it again? A 'chili dog'? I like it," Keitaro said, impressed.

"I know, right?" Kitsune said, also eating her chili dog.

"Have you ever eaten one of these things before, Kitsune-san?" Mutsumi asked, also chewing on a piece of her chili dog.

"Well, my dad used to work at one of those food stands and he got to bring home all the leftovers from the day. One night, he brought home a chili dog and I had a chili dog that night," Kitsune explained.

"Oh. I'm sorry for your loss," Keitaro said.

"Hmm? Oh, he's not dead. When I said 'used to', I meant that he now has a very successful job as a talented designer," she said.

"Oh. Cool," Mutsumi said. Then nobody spoke for the longest time.

"Ya know, I had the weirdest dream. I could see what people were feeling without trying and we went shopping at the mall," Mutsumi said.

"Huh? Mutsumi-chan, that's not a dream. We _are_ shopping at the mall right no-wait, what was that about 'seeing what people are feeling'?" Keitaro asked.

"Oh, yeah. Somehow, I can see people's emotions as if it painted them different colors. It's like I just _know_ what people are feeling. Like that guy over there-" Here she pointed to a man sitting on a bench, studying from pocket flashcards. "-is trying to get into Toudai, and he's second-highest ranked in the nation, but he's still very unsure of his life. Plus, the girl he likes is waiting for a reply to her confession of love from him, but he just can't bring himself to admit it. He's apparently too obsessed with the notion that becoming her boyfriend meant doing 'it', as he put it," Mutsumi said.

"You could tell all of that about a sitting man studying from flashcards?" Kitsune asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Mutsumi replied curiously.

"How?" Keitaro asked.

"I don't really know," Mutsumi responded.

'*gasp* "Seeing people's emotions"? She's showing the sign of having _emotion_ _psi _energy! Wait, if she has _emotion_ _psi,_ she would be able to comfort anyone,' Keitaro reasoned with himself. 'Well, only one way to check,' he thought, turning to Mutsumi.

"Hey, Mutsumi-chan. Why don't you try and comfort that man that was studying just now?" Keitaro requested.

"Huh? Why?" Mutsumi asked.

"Well, I need to know...if...you...knew how to comfort someone. I'll only know if you try it, so...could you try?" he explained.

"Well, okay. I _do _enjoy comforting people," Mutsumi agreed, going over to the man sitting at the bench. She sat down next to him, causing the man to look up from his book.

"Uh...can I help you, miss?" he asked.

"Oh, hi. My name is Mutsumi Otohime. What's your name?" Mutsumi greeted, holding out her hand for him to shake.

"I'm Jin Takahashi," the man said, shaking Mutsumi's hand.

"I know I don't know you very well, Jin-san, but you look troubled. Is something bothering you?" Mutsumi asked.

"No, everything's fine!" Jin said, suddenly alert.

"What's bothering you?" Mutsumi asked calmly, seeming to not have heard him.

"Nothing!" Jin shot back.

"Oh. Okay. Well, if you need to talk, I've been told I give great advice, so feel free to talk if you need to," Mutsumi said, almost maternally.

After a moment of silence, Jin sighed. "Well, Mutsumi-san, it's about a girl I like. She confessed to me the other day that she likes me, but I just ran home without giving her an answer. I'm sure that I like her too, but I don't want to do 'it' right now. I'm not ready to...to...to become a father," Jin explained, the blush growing redder slightly at the mention of not being ready to become a father.

"Oh. Is that all? Well, don't worry. I'm sure she's just as nervous about it as you. Not giving her an answer might make her worried. I'm sure she'll agree to go slow if you ask," Mutsumi said in a comforting tone.

"But what if she doesn't?" Jin asked fearfully.

"Don't worry. If she likes you, she probably will," Mutsumi said encouragingly.

"Really? You really think so?" Jin asked hopefully.

"Absolutely," Mutsumi replied definitively, smiling.

Jin sniffled. There were happy tears coming from his eyes. He suddenly hugged Mutsumi and broke out into sobs.

"Ara. You needed a hug, didn't you?" Mutsumi commented.

"Thanks for the kind words, Mutsumi-san. And sorry for the sudden hug. I was just so happy and relieved when you said that," Jin said between sobs.

"You're welcome, Jin-san. And it's alright. You seemed like you needed that," Mutsumi said, hugging him back.

Keitaro and Kitsune, meanwhile, were staring at the teary display slack-jawed. "Wow. She did it. She actually did it," Kitsune said incredulously. Keitaro remained silent and slack-jawed.

"Kei-kun?" she asked, waving her hand in front of his face. "Say something, man!" Kitsune yelled.

"...She...comforted him," Keitaro said slowly. Then he suddenly grabbed onto the lapels of Kitsune's shirt. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?!" he yelled. (A/N: As the author, I feel obligated to explain that lapels are like the edges of the shirt that make a V shape, like in karate gI or some business shirts).

"Actually, no, I don't. What is it?" Kitsune asked.

Keitaro moved his head closer to whisper. His urgent whisper was, "Kitsune-chan, Mutsumi-chan is making lots of _emotion_ _psi_ energy!"

"What? You mean the other kind of _psi_ energy?" Kitsune asked, voice in a whisper as well.

"Yes, that one," Keitaro whispered.

"WHAT?" Kitsune whispered, albeit rather loudly.

|\/\/|

And that's the new chapter, everyone. I hope all of you readers out there enjoy this story, because I don't exactly know about that. Is everyone enjoying the story? Please tell me. Also, I know this is kind of sad, but this is the first time that I revised a chapter, so it may be better than the chapters before it. Anyway, don't forget to review! Later!


	4. Chapter 4: An Old Enemy

A/N: Hey, people. I'm back. I will now be focusing on one story at a time, what with all the school going on now. And I get only a few hours a day to write, not the whole day, and that's not including the days when I get stuck on homework. Plus, I've pretty much pieced together this whole story from this point on, so it was a natural first choice. Also, I take about a week to revise my stories now, so there's that. Also, I'm going to start doing the funny beginning dialogue again, but they'll be seperate from the author's notes.

Kitsune: I'm liking the story so far. And why did you put us in that closet that chapter when you stopped doing this?

Chris: Uh...that wasn't me.

Naru: I saw you put us in the closet!

Chris: No, you didn't.

TV: This just in, a man named Chris has apparently locked all residents of the Hinata House in a closet.

(Everyone aside from Chris crosses their arms)

Chris: Okay, so I may have put you in a dark closet for a month.

Naru: Dude, seriously?! I got groped by this guy (points to Keitaro) way too much!

Keitaro: But I was tied up in the corner the whole time.

Naru: Wait, what?

(Twenty-second silence)

Chris: _Awk_-ward. Anyway, now be da disclaimer, before those blushes make you faint.

[|-=-|]

Disclaimer: I don't own Love Hina. Anyway, STORY START!

|/\/\|

From last time:

_Keitaro moved his head closer to whisper. His urgent whisper was, "Kitsune-chan, Mutsumi-chan is making lots of _emotion psi _energy!"_

_"What? You mean the other kind of _psi_ energy?" Kitsune asked, voice in a whisper as well._

_"Yes, that one," Keitaro whispered._

_"WHAT?" Kitsune whispered, albeit rather loudly._

.,.

The trio were pretty quiet the whole walk back, save for the packages of watermelons and sake rolling on dolleys. And that was _after _the awkward train ride back, where they didn't notice people staring at the packages of stuff on the dolleys. Nobody started a conversation and Keitaro and Kitsune weren't their usual selves. Kitsune wasn't wearing that fox smile that became so trademark with her and Keitaro was constantly shifting his glasses back onto his nose nervously. And not the typical Keitaro nervous we all know and laugh at, but the kind that made him look around suspiciously. Nobody who looked at them needed a mind reader to see the tension in the air. It was kind of ironic, really. Nobody knew that there was actually an experienced mind reader, a not-so-experienced mind reader, and a potential but totally inexperienced mind reader who had no idea where the tension was coming from with them, either.

Finally, the silent walk turned to a conversation.

"Ara ara, Kei-kun, Kitsune-san, things feel so tense here! I wonder why..." Mutsumi wondered out loud.

"Should we tell her?" Kitsune asked in a whisper.

"Better to get it over with now than later," Keitaro whispered back.

"Why are we talking like this?" Mutsumi asked them in a whisper, causing Keitaro and Kitsune to jump a little, as if they had the same brainwave.

"Gyuh! Well, uh, Mutsumi-chan, remember yesterday when that robot came to the Hinata-sou, and I sliced it in half with fire?" Keitaro asked.

"Yeah, what about it?" Mutsumi asked.

"Well, you actually have some of the powers I have. It seems you have the ability to perceive emotions effortlessly," Keitaro said.

"What do you mean?" Mutsumi asked.

"Well, haven't you noticed that you can read people without trying?" Keitaro asked.

"Yeah, I have. Wait, what do you mean by that?" Mutsumi asked.

"Well, I don't know how, but now you have some of my abilities. We need to be somewhere less open before I can explain this to you any more," Keitaro said.

"But there's nobody here on this street," Mutsumi noted.

"Well, people could be watching. There are guys that actively look for people like me. We have to be careful," Keitaro said.

"Okay, let's go ho-" Mutsumi started, nodding.

"Going somewhere?" came a voice from behind them. They turned around to see a man wearing a fancy white suit.

"Huh? Who are you?" Keitaro asked.

"'Who are you?' You honestly don't remember me, Urashima-san? I'm deeply offended. Maybe this'll clue you in," the man said resentfully. He took out a note that looked like it was written by a six-year-old and tossed it down. It read:

'_Dear Kei,_

_Hey, bro. Just wrote to tell you that I will keep your secret. I won't reveal it to anyone, trust me. They'll probably think I'm crazy. But, don't worry, your secret's safe with me._

_Sincerely_

_your best friend, Ken_.'

After Keitaro read the letter, he looked back up at the man standing before them, seeming to realize something.

"Kentaro-san?" Keitaro said with astonishment.

"Now you remember me?" Kentaro said.

"Kei-kun, who is this?" Kitsune asked, pointing to the man in the suit.

"Oh, excuse me, ladies. I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Kentaro Sakata, Keitaro-san's _ex_-friend. Now I hate his guts," Kentaro introduced.

"Okay. Now that we got that out of the way, I have another question. In this letter, he seemed to be your friend. What happened?" Kitsune asked.

"Kentaro-san used to be my friend. I was even able to confide my biggest secret in him: I told him that I had powers. He gladly kept the secret all through elementary school. Then we didn't see each other for two years. The next time we saw each other was in high school. We both practically cheered when we saw each other.

"Then we both saw her. The foreign exchange student from America. I can't remember her name, but I remember her face. He had a crush on her. I knew he would have a crush on her. He made a cheap shot at me so he could get a head start on her, even though I was not trying for her. The epitome of 'blinded by love' if there ever was one. But I had a promise to keep to that girl fifteen years ago. He thought I was going to make a move on her though. Then, he made _his_ move on her. But she rejected him. So he kept trying throughout high school, with a complete record of failure until the last week of our senior year. For some reason, he thought I did something to keep winning the girl over. Then, he tried forcing her to like him. She only got more repulsed and even a little intimidated by him. Then, I found out that he had kidnapped her when I stumbled upon a closet she was locked in. After that, I confronted him about locking her in the closet in the gym. He got mad at me because he thought I was still doing something to her to get her to like me, I got frustrated at him for believing that, even after four years of going to the same school, then he tried to punch me.

"I stopped his punch and shoved him away, but the way we were looking at each other showed that he was no friend of mine anymore. Then the girl ran up and kissed me on the cheek and thanked me for saving her. We were both just standing there, shocked. Then he ran up and smacked me in the face while I was still shocked and he ran out, vowing something and saying something about revenge. After that, I told the girl to not tell anyone I saved her like I did and tried to keep this man an unhappy memory. It almost worked," Keitaro explained, turning to Kentaro with a frown.

"Wait, so you hate him because of a misunderstanding?" Kitsune asked in a deadpan tone.

"Yep. And you won't be stopping me. I already know all your tricks. You can't get a shot at me," Kentaro ranted.

"Just try and make me stop trying," Keitaro said, getting into a defensive stance.

"Oh yeah? You and what army?" Kentaro said, stretching out his arms and revealing a large number of robots around them, surrounding them. He let out an evil chuckle.

"Oh, please. I could take care of these robots, no problem," Keitaro said. The robots charged at him. "Girls, hide!" Keitaro commanded.

"No way. I want to fight, too! I want to help," Kitsune protested.

"No, this guy knows the secrets to the mystic energies. He can manipulate your energy attacks with his robots and you girls don't know martial arts. I got this," Keitaro said. Then, to respond to the charge, Keitaro charged at the robots and a big dust cloud appeared around the clash.

"You think he'll be alright?" Kitsune asked Mutsumi.

"Well, he looks like he's doing well," she responded, pointing to Keitaro to show that he was ripping through the robots...literally.

"Whoa!" Kitsune said in awe, "I have never seen such a good example of...of...oh, what was the right word? Abnormal? Juxtaposition?"

"Difference?" Mutsumi suggested.

"Yeah, difference. I guess that wo-" Kitsune started, but she suddenly vanished, leaving a hole in the ground next to her sake package.

"Kitsune-sa-" Mutsumi started to ask, but vanished just as Kitsune had done.

When Keitaro had finished with the robots, they were all scrap metal and Kentaro had vanished. Keitaro was standing in the middle of the wreckage for a second, breathing heavily. He then started to turn around. "Girls, are you all..." Keitaro started. As he finished going to where the girls hid, however, all he saw of where they were standing was the package of sake and the watermelons. Keitaro gasped, then looked around. They were nowhere to be found. He flicked himself in the forehead and his eyes started glowing gray. 'This'll tell me where they're going,' he thought. As he scanned the area, however, he saw no signature of energy. He closed his eyes and a tear came out.

"Damn it! I lost them," he said, sadly. He somberly turned to the package and watermelons. 'I guess I'll have to carry those up the steps myself.'

...

An hour later, Keitaro closed the door to the Hinata-sou with his new clothes, the pack of sake, and the watermelon in hand. All the residents were there, watching the news. Right now, there was a report of two missing adult women being broadcasted.

"This just in, two women were apparently taken hostage by an unknown captor. According to our source, an adult man who was walking in the park near the Hinata Hill with these women, they were snatched away while he was distracted. So, if you see these women, call the police immediately," the reporter urged. Everyone gasped at seeing the faces on file of the two missing persons.

"Kitsune-san is missing? Mutsumi-san, too? What happened?" Naru asked, concerned. Then everyone heard the door close and looked to see Keitaro walking towards them.

"So, you saw the news report," he noted, pushing the dollies next to the wall.

"Urashima-san, did you know about this?" Motoko asked.

"Yep. I'm the one who called the police," Keitaro said.

"What happened? What were you doing in the park with both of them?" Sarah asked.

"They both came with me to the mall to get this pack of sake and this watermelon. Then, we were walking home and an old enemy of mine showed up and snagged them while I was dealing with his robots. Now, they're being held captive by him," Keitaro explained, sulking at that last part.

"WHAT? YOU LET MY BEST FRIEND GET KIDNAPPED BY THIS 'ENEMY' OF YOURS? HOW COULD YOU?!" Naru yelled, charging at him and reeling her arm back for a punch. When her punch should've connected, it didn't. Instead, she met a blurry semblance of Keitaro, which just turned out to be air.

"Huh?" she asked, looking around to see Keitaro standing behind her, looking at her over a book with annoyance.

"This is not the time for you to launch me to Tokyo, Narusegawa-chan. I need to find his base of operations fast. If I don't, the world is in danger. Su-chan, could you make a tracking device without the need for a tracking bug?" Keitaro asked, turning to Su and closing the book.

"Yes, I can! But I need a DNA sample of whoever you want to track," Su said, apparently missing the weird part of the last statement, like always.

"Okay. Use this," Keitaro said, pulling out a hair he had in his pocket.

"What's that hair supposed to do?" Sarah asked.

"Well, I plucked it off of my old enemy. Good thing he never bothered to try and learn how to follow my superspeed movements," Keitaro answered.

Meanwhile, Naru was too in shock to say anything. After all, she thought she was going to hit him and send him flying again. Instead, he somehow got out of the way and ended up behind her, leaving the color of his self still there, as if nothing happened. 'Wh-What was that? What just happened? Ask him, ask him!' she thought. Yet, her legs wouldn't move.

The rest of the residents were just as shocked as Naru, only for different reasons.

'How did Urashima-san do _that_? He must have moved so fast that even I could not follow him. Now I simply _must_ ask him what is going on! Oh, wait, that seems impossible,' Motoko thought, going into a state of thinking.

'Wow. Did Sempai say 'superspeed'? Cool!' was Shinobu's thrilled thought.

'Hmm. Let's see. If I took a DNA scanner, and added it to the circuit in place of the wireless receiver, it should be able to accept any DNA signature as the tracking data. I just have to connect the software with the hardware and the plasma battery to the scanner,' was Su's thought process. Su ran off to her room to build the tracker in her mind. Keitaro followed her.

This left Sarah, Shinobu, Naru, and Motoko staring after Keitaro with a curious look in their eyes.

...

"Su-chan, how much longer is this going to take?" Keitaro asked, seeming a little frustrated.

"Well, I'm going as fast as I can!" Su said cheerfully.

"It's been four hours and all you've got is the schematic!" Keitaro protested.

"Well...it's actually a little time-consuming to attach a DNA sensor to the tracker. You see, I need to attach a round thing called a plasma battery, and I need to make the software compatible, and I haven't had bananas since lunch, and-" Su started to say.

"Okay, really? You 'haven't had any bananas since lunch'? Now I _know _you're making excuses. Su-chan, why are you making up excuses?" Keitaro interrogated.

"Well, it's always been my third-best dream to lie to an audience using bananas!" Su said.

"That doesn't even make any sense! We're not nearly enough to be an a-wait! 'Dream'? That just gave me an idea! Su-chan, you have what the finished product should look like memorized, right?" Keitaro said.

"Yep! Why do you ask?" Su asked, smiling.

"I have an idea, but I need you to imagine every part of it for me. I know it seems odd, but just do it," Keitaro commanded.

"Okay, but I don't know how it'll help," Su said, closing her eyes after that statement.

"Have you done that?" Keitaro asked.

"Yep! Do you have some sort of plan to seduce me?" Su teased.

"No, of course not. Just stay focused on the finished product," Keitaro commanded.

That's when he started meditating while standing. Basically, he held his arms so that his fists were at his sides and his arms were bent. He bent his knees slightly (A/N: Sorry for the boring description. I've been playing too much of Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies lately). He closed his eyes and focused.

That's when particles of white light gathered into the shape of an orb right in front of him. He then grabbed the white orb and crushed it between his hands, giving the palms of his hands a white glow. Then he placed his hand on Su's head and a his hand seemed to reach into her head. He pulled his hand back after a second and the white glow on his hands dissipated into the air.

"Alright, Su-chan, tell me, is this what you were imagining?" Keitaro asked. Su opened her eyes to look and was astonished by what saw. In Keitaro's hand was the tracking device Su had been imagining, down to the DNA scanner.

"Yes, it is! How did you do that?" Su asked, astonished.

"I'll tell you later," Keitaro answered simply. Then, he took out the hair he had in his pocket and put it into the DNA scanner. The screen then sprung to life and a grid appeared, showing an arrow pointing somewhere in between west and north-west on the border of the screen.

"Got him! Okay, I'm going to follow the arrow. Su-chan, please don't try to follow me," he said. Then he turned the direction he had come. Close to the edge of the forest that was Su's room, Keitaro stopped.

"And girls, please don't try to follow me like you did four hours ago with Su-chan and me," he requested, causing some loud 'eep!'s to be heard. Su looked to the sources of the sound to see that all the other Hinata residents were apparently eavesdropping on the discussion, indicated by the startled looks on their faces and the fact that they were on the ground. Then Su looked back to the place where their manager was standing a moment ago to see that he was no longer standing there. She walked around a little bit, searching for where he might have gone, and could not find him. After she returned to her computer, having given up on finding him, she said, "Huh, weird," and went right back to the drawing board. Or rather, she would have, if the monkeys weren't smashing it to pieces.

...

"Mm? Mmm m meh momng ear? Mn hmm ms nere?" came a muffled voice in the hideout. She was strapped to an operating table in a room of the hideout.

"Hello, miss. You must be Mutsumi Otohime-san. I am Kentaro Sakata, the one who kidnapped you. Don't bother trying to escape," he said.

All Mutsumi did was give him a confused look with her eyes.

"Hmm?" she said, even though it was muffled by the gag.

"What do you mean 'hmm'? It's _so _easy to follow. I have _kidnapped _you and held you captive on an _operating table_!" Kentaro said.

"Hmm?" Mutsumi said again.

"Oh, just shut it," Kentaro commanded, sounding agitated. He slugged her across the face, knocking her unconscious.

Meanwhile, in the room upstairs to that one, Kitsune was shackled to a chair and just waking up.

Kitsune groaned. "Ow, my head. What happened? And where am I? How did I get here?" she asked the air, which yielded no response.

That's where she struggled, strained, and tried any other means of escape for all of another five minutes. Then she saw someone burst through the wall opposite her, catching her really off-guard.

She tried to say 'Kei-kun, over here!', but it came out as a series of unintelligible noises because her gasp of surprise put too much air into her lungs. He looked her direction, though, so it didn't really matter.

When Keitaro tried to approach, however, a cage of lasers appeared, surrounding her operating table. This made him stop. Then he held out his fist and opened it. What came out was a black orb of energy. Then, he chucked it through the lasers towards the operating table.

Kitsune was really surprised when she saw that Keitaro had somehow teleported right next to her.

"How did you do that?" she asked.

"It's one of my powers," Keitaro answered, starting to remove the shackles.

"Really?" Kitsune asked.

"Yep. And before you ask, I'll tell you later," Keitaro promised, finishing the task of getting rid of the shackles. He had made a blue key materialize and fit into the lock. It opened the shackles.

"Let me guess, you read my mind?" Kitsune guessed.

"Nope, I just expected you to say that," Keitaro responded.

"You know, you've been surprising me ever since the whole robot attack the other day. How do you keep doing it?" Kitsune asked, rubbing her wrists from being under shackles.

"You know, I don't really know. But, I planned to tell everyone back at the Hinata about my powers tonight, until this whole mess showed its ugly face," Keitaro said.

"Why?" Kitsune asked.

"Well, they're bound to ask sooner or later, after that show just yesterday. Plus, how else could I explain you're disappearance and my being gone for a while?" Keitaro pointed out.

"Good point," Kitsune said. Then, they started to walk to the door, which was locked with an electronic/hydraulic lock. Keitaro was about to raise his arms to open the doors, but Kitsune stopped him.

"I got this," she said. Once he put down his arms, Kitsune raised one of hers. A purple blade came out of her closed fist. Then she ran up to the door and sliced at it with the purple blade. She shouted, "Duck and cover!" Then the doors released a sound similar to a town flooding and exploded, water flying everywhere.

"Wow, Kitsune-chan. I'm impressed. I've never seen that before," Keitaro commented, sounding very impressed.

"Yeah. I invented it," Kitsune responded.

"Ah, I see. Getting the pattern now?" Keitaro asked, sweeping the dust and metal fragments off of his arm.

"Yeah. _Psi_ energy is super easy to use once you've got the experience to do other things. I guess it's kinda like cooking," Kitsune noted.

"Yes, it is. What I'm impressed with is the fact that you learned so fast, you were able to invent and pull off an advanced ability on your first try. But, anyway, let's go. We need to hurry. If we don't rescue Mutsumi-chan, she'll practically explode and destroy everything, including Japan," Keitaro warned.

"Right!" Kitsune said, running with him down the hall to search for the missing Mutsumi. She hardly seemed fazed that he said 'including Japan' for a moment.

'Wait, "_including_ Japan"?' she thought while running. Her mental voice sounded freaked out. And like a Southern gal (A/N: That's how she sounds in the anime).

...

Meanwhile, the rest of the Hinata gang was looking for Keitaro in the Mecha Tama IV. Su had taken out her old Keitaro tracker and installed it into the airship. She was manning the controls, causing mild airsickness.

"Dashing through the air, looking for the guy, who manages our all-girls-dorm, hey, we have to try!" Su sang to the tune of 'Jingle Bells'.

"Su-chan, what are you singing?" Naru asked, sounding fearful for her life, which wasn't so far off of the mark.

"Oh, I just took the tune of a Christmas song from America and put my own words in!" Su said, turning back to look at Naru as she answered that question.

"How would that even make any sense? It's the beginning of summer, so why would you-" Naru started to ask.

"Su-san, duck!" Sarah shouted, causing Su to duck. Then everyone heard a bump on the front of the flying machine.

"What was that?" Shinobu asked.

"Probably the duck," Sarah said, smiling.

"Su-chan! You have to be more careful! We could crash!" Motoko warned. She seemed really...concerned...that she was in a giant flying mechanical turtle with a crazy kid at the wheel. Yeah, we'll just leave it at that.

"I know. Let's see...Oh, we completely missed him. He's behind us now," Su said. Everyone facefaulted.

"Well, turn around!" Naru commanded from the floor.

"Okay! Sheesh, you don't gotta be a backseat driver," Su groused, turning the aircraft around.

...

"This way!" Keitaro said while running through the halls of Kentaro's hideout. They were still searching for Mutsumi.

"Um, Kei-kun, not to be impatient, but when are we going to get there?" Kitsune asked, sounding slightly annoyed.

"She's close, I can feel it," Keitaro said. Then they came upon a room where they heard drilling. They heard this noise and hid behind the wall.

"Alright, we're here, right?" Kitsune asked.

"Yeah. I just saw him in there with Mutsumi-chan. It wasn't pretty. But we need a plan to rescue her. He probably didn't hear the door exploding with all these loud machines," Keitaro said. Then he took seven chi stones out of his pocket (A/N: chi stones are like metal balls, only not and, when you roll them around in your hand, they're said to center your chi). He startes rolling them in his hand.

"What are you doing?" Kitsune asked.

"Hmm? Oh, this? Just a nervous habit," Keitaro answered, putting the chi stones away.

"Aren't you just showing off?" Kitsune asked.

"No. Why?" Keitaro responded.

"Nothing. Okay...How about you distract him while I get Mutsumi-san out of that chair?" Kitsune suggested.

"Alright, then. That works," Keitaro said. He ran into the room first while Kitsune watched while hiding.

"Kentaro-san! Let her go!" Keitaro yelled.

Kentaro turned around. "Ah, I see that the cavalry has arrived," he said.

"Let Mutsumi-chan go! She had nothing to do with our fight in high school!" Keitaro pleaded.

"Well, I don't plan on releasing her anytime soon," Kentaro said.

"Then I'll _make _you release her!" Keitaro said.

"Do you know how cliche that line is?" Kentaro asked, laughing his head off. Once his laughter died off, he pressed a button on a remote and an army of robots came out from behind him. These robots looked more like thugs.

"Kentaro-san, when will you ever learn? I could take them apart easily. Watch," Keitaro said confidently. Then he put both his arms out and spread out his hands. The robots started floating with a purple glow around them.

"Keitaro-san, do you really think I didn't think of that? It's impossible for you to tear them apart," Kentaro said.

"I know," Keitaro said, smiling confidently. Then, through the ceiling, a lightning bolt struck one robot. Then Keitaro brought the robots closer together. The one shocked robot touched other robots, essentially frying Kentaro's army.

"Huh. Never seen that one before. Guess I'll have to use my strongest thing," Kentaro said. He pressed another button on his remote, opening up the floor under him and revealing a set of battle armor. It made him look like a cartoonishly large muscle-bound freak once he got inside.

"Behold! My mark I Exoskeleton! It resists all your energies. You can't hit me with anything of those four energies of yours," Kentaro said.

"Wow...nice helmet. You get all the premium channels on that thing or...?" Keitaro joked.

"Alright, you asked for it!" Kentaro yelled in singsong, raising his arm. Rocket launchers came out and his arm looked like a weaponized stick. "Say 'hello' to my giant friends!" he taunted. The missiles fired off, coming towards Keitaro.

Snapping out of the stupor Kentaro's ugly battlesuit put him in, he looked to the missiles and raised his fists, causing them to glow red before bringing them down to the ground. This made spikes of rock abruptly erupt from the ground around him. Keitaro then grew psI blades from his fingers and twirled around, cutting the spikes where they stood. He picked them up with _psi _and made a rock shield. That caused more dust and smoke and some fire on the rock.

Kentaro smirked as the missiles hit, thinking it hit Keitaro. When the smoke cleared, he saw a giant wall of flaming rock flying towards him. He was startled for a second, but then swung forward and broke apart the rock. As the dust cleared, he saw a figure running up to him, fist raised and glowing red. He just stood there as he got punched by Keitaro, but nothing happened. The punch did nothing to Kentaro's suit. Kentaro just punched Keitaro, causing him to fly across the room to where he was, landing on the ground with a skid.

"Getting creative, are we? Seems a little soon, doesn't it? Well, it's _my_ turn now," Kentaro jeered. He raised his arm and the hand opened up. A bazooka came out, shooting out the explosive incendiary ammo.

Keitaro took a stance akin to Motoko's 'get ready, I'm going to castrate you' stance, with a similar face. A glowing blue katana blade rose out of his closed fist. He ran towards Kentaro, slicing open the bazooka bombs with the blade. He was running in a manner like he was running across a tightrope. His hands were behind him, his right arm only moving to slice the oncoming bombs. A ball of electricity was forming around his other hand. You know, typical ninja sprint.

Once he got close, he flipped above a bazooka shell and stabbed Kentaro's suit in the head with the katana. Then he leapt off of Kentaro, who's back was arched with surprise. As the katana dissolved into the air, due to the true-to-word energy immunity Kentaro's suit had built in, Keitaro jumped off of the ceiling and dive-bombed the mechanical-suited man, left hand first. Kentaro's hand opened up and a sword popped up. The impact was...well, bright, to say the least.

Kentaro was shaking from the jolt of Keitaro's electric punch. He was shaking from the electricity for a few seconds, then was blown back by the force.

Keitaro landed, perfectly unscathed save for one scratch on his arm from the sword, in front of the mecha-menace.

"Hah! Gotcha!" Keitaro said.

"...Hmph. It'll take more than that to bring me down, you buffoon," Kentaro said. Keitaro gasped at this comment and at seeing the bulky suit fall off after the electric punch to reveal another armor suit, this one making him look more like a weaponized super soldier than a muscle-bound giant.

"What? How did you do that?" Keitaro asked in astonishment.

"Don't you remember? I had a thing for maximizing space. The phase is gone, but I still have the knowledge," Kentaro said, tapping two fingers on his forehead. "And I still have the knowledge of how to trap you in a cage that cancels out all your energy outputs," Kentaro continued, pressing a button on a remote suddenly. Then a cage popped up out of the ground and trapped Keitaro in a cage glowing maroon.

"What is this?" Keitaro said. He tried to punch the bars, only to realize that the bars were lasers and that his hand was on fire as a result of the failed attempt to smash the cage. "Ooh! Ow! Hot!" he exclaimed, patting out the small flame.

"These lasers are programmed to block the energies and stop them from activating. They take away your super strength, super speed, super agility, and anything else your four energies give you," Kentaro explained.

"Well, I have a confession to make. I didn't show you _all_ my powers," Keitaro confessed, seeing that Kitsune unlocked Mutsumi's shackles and quietly dragged her over to some storage crates sitting conveniently nearby.

"Oh? What didn't you show me?" Kentaro asked with a mock piqued interest.

"This," Keitaro said. Then, he pointed his finger out the cage and a little black orb formed at the tip of his finger. The orb shot out to the ground where he was pointing. He suddenly appeared at the spot he pointed to. Then he took that same meditative stance as when he pulled the tracker out of thin air that Su was imagining. The same white orb formed in front of him as before, too, and in the same manner. So what was different? The result. Keitaro grabbed the orb and smashed it on the floor this time, causing circle waves to spread outward like ripples in water.

Keitaro's eyes started glowing white. Then, the ground suddenly ejected leaves. These leaves swirled around Kentaro's battle suit, leaving him confused and looking around in wonderment.

Then Keitaro closed his open hand to make a fist. The leaves exploded, leaving a whole lot of smoke and dust. When all that settled, there was a crouching Kentaro in its place. He was coughing and waving his giant mecha-hand to clear the smoke.

Once he finished that, Kentaro chuckled. "Is that all? You're more empty-headed than you seem. This suit can't be scratched by a nuclear bomb; what makes you think a string of tiny leaves would do anything?" he taunted.

"Nngh!" Keitaro said, eyes narrowing.

"And big deal, you escaped my laser cage. You can't beat me. You're nothing but a weakling," Kentaro said, first sarcastically then with a smirk.

"Grrrrr! You!" Keitaro said, trying to punch Kentaro with a glowing red fist. Kentaro just stood there while the punch did nothing. Then he punched Keitaro, causing him to backpedal.

"Wow, Kei-san. You must have _really_ bad grades to try _that _again," Kentaro remarked.

"You...Stop calling me that, you irritating jerk!" Keitaro said, voice filled with rage. There was a suddenly-appearing spike of rock as Keitaro punched the ground, then another few, then he became encased in a giant round boulder.

Then something busted through. When the debris cleared, Keitaro wasn't the bespectacled man whom nobody fears. He was a menacing bespectacled gorilla whom caused fear into everyone. He was so menacing.

"Ah, I remember this!" Kentaro said.

"Grrrrrrrrrr..." Keitaro the beast growled. (A/N: This idea was inspired by Naruto, in case anyone was thinking 'Hey, he copied Naruto!'). Then he leapt at Kentaro the muscled hulking freak, tackling him. Keitaro attacked ferociously at the armor. After five minutes of this, the suit cracked.

Meanwhile, Kitsune was instructing Mutsumi on the basic things that _psi _energy in general could be used for. She had already helped with the extra energy removal.

"Wow. So, there's this cool purple energy that lets you read peoples' minds?" Mutsumi asked.

"Yeah. And there's two kinds of it, too. I have one kind and you have the other," Kitsune explained.

"Cool! Can you teach me about it?" Mutsumi asked.

"Well, as far as I know about it, I can only teach you some of the things I know. I have the kind that you don't have, so I can do some things you can't," Kitsune explained.

"Aww," Mutsumi said sadly.

"Well, it's the other way around, too. There's a reason why you can read people without trying. I can't do that," Kitsune said.

"Oh. that's cool," Mutsumi said.

"Yeah. He said there was a secret to it, too. He said the secret was light. I didn't get it at first, but he showed me what he meant. He showed me how light was related to the mind. Apparently, it represents wisdom and being pure of heart," Kitsune explained.

"Well, that is cool," Mutsumi said.

"Yeah. And I have to teach you stuff because Kei-kun is a little busy," Kitsune said, pointing to the beast slashing away at the armored enemy.

"Oh, okay. Wow, Kei-kun looks really angry," Mutsumi said.

That's when Keitaro finished pounding on the mechanical Exoskeleton. He started to look more normal as he was just standing there, inspecting his work. He hit so hard, there was dust everywhere. And the dust turned to smoke as Kentaro got up, his Exoskeleton now smaller, but still looking just as menacing as the one that made him look like he had a disproportionately small brain and freakishly large muscles or a weaponized super soldier. He looked like a knight of yore now with his new suit out and the old suit shed and on the floor.

"Fool. Did you really think _that _old monster would stop me? You forget. I studied all your energies. I have armor resistant to your stupid super punch and that monster. You can't fatally hurt me," Kentaro taunted.

"Dude, seriously?! Are you sure you're not still in that phase with the maximizing space?" Keitaro asked.

"Heh. You are a sad excuse for a Guardian. Do you really think a monster could get to me? You'd need a lot more than that to take me down," Kentaro said, raising his arm and letting out a mace, glowing with fire. He swung it around like a real knight. He charged at Keitaro and swung.

And hit something that wasn't a body.

Keitaro was holding his hands out in front of him and there was a purple field of energy right in front of him. It not only stopped the mace, but held it in the position it was in when it hit the field. No matter how much Kentaro tried to pull it away, he couldn't. It was impossible. Then Keitaro grabbed the mace and yanked it towards him, pulling Kentaro with it. He punched Kentaro as he was flung at Keitaro, causing an audible head-hitting sound inside the metal suit and for Kentaro's head to spin for a bit from dizziness. In that time, Keitaro grabbed the arm of the metal suit and slammed it on one side of him and the other for two seconds before throwing Kentaro upwards. He crashed through the ceiling and up into the air for a few seconds. Keitaro then put a purple orb on his fist. After Kentaro's few seconds of air time were up, he landed right on Keitaro's orb-covered fist, which is how he ended up flying across the room and hit the wall across the room from the storage crates. After that, Keitaro held a hand out and trapped Kentaro in a blue field and a purple field. Kentaro pressed a button on his knight-like suit, making it fall off like the other suits. He started to bash the imprisoning energy field. Meanwhile, over by the storage crates...

"And that's all I can teach you," Kitsune said.

"Wow. I can't believe how hard this was to learn," Mutsumi commented.

"Yeah. Kei-kun's a great teacher, but not me. I just tried to teach you the same way he taught me," Kitsune said.

Then Keitaro scurried behind the crates while Kentaro was trapped in the purple and blue prison.

"Hey, Mutsumi-chan. Kitsune-chan, how is her training going?" Keitaro asked.

"Well, I taught her all I could, but she still doesn't know about any of her unique abilities. I just taught her the basics," Kitsune said.

"Alright. Good. I have a plan,"-here he whispered the plan into their ears-"and he'll be out like a light. Kitsune-chan, have you taught her the light laser yet?" Keitaro asked.

"Ooh, light laser?" Mutsumi asked, sounding interested.

"Never mind. Kitsune-chan, please teach her the light laser. Alright, gotta go. Kentaro-san's about to break free," Keitaro said, getting up and moving out from behind the storage crate.

At that moment, everyone heard a loud sound resembling metal hitting rock, only it had an electric effect to it.

"Oh...WHAT THE...?!" Keitaro yelled at seeing what Kentaro had become. He was holding his deformed knight-like suit.

"Surprise, water for brains. I said I studied those four energies. In addition to being energy resistant, this suit is energy absorbent. You've been giving me energy to beat you with all this time!" Kentaro explained.

"Gah!" Keitaro exclaimed. What he saw was a man in a suit of armor glowing red, a glowing purple glove, a glowing blue helmet, glowing yellow boots, and a glowing purple sword, the glove holding it also glowing purple.

Kentaro smashed his weapon into the area, causing Keitaro to have to dodge by jumping. The weapon caused cracks to appear in the earth where he struck. Kentaro tried to strike Keitaro thrice more. On the fifth try, though, Kentaro actually hit him. He swung sideways, catching Keitaro in the gut, sending him flying towards the storage crate where Kitsune and Mutsumi were watching with deep interest. They gasped at this.

"Kei-kun, are you alright?" both of them asked, concerned. Instinctively, Mutsumi lifted his shirt. He had a big burn mark where his gut was.

"I'm fine, girls. Thanks, but I've gotten worse injuries from Motoko-chan and Naru-chan alone. I'll just heal myself," Keitaro said. Keitaro put his hand on his stomach and it glowed green. The burn around his hand seemed to disappear. When he lifted his hand, that was the case.

"Whoa. How did you do that?" Kitsune asked.

"Tell you later," he responded. Then Keitaro got up, went out into the open, and took out one of his chi stones. His hand glowed red, the stone doing the same. Then the stone turned into a big puff of red mist, floating down to the ground. Once it touched the ground, a mysterious stranger appeared.

"Who's your friend, Kei-san?" Kentaro asked teasingly.

"I'll tell you about me. I'm the guy who's going to give you the whopping of your life," the mysterious stranger answered. He had an eye patch covering his eye and yellow fingerless gloves on his hands.

"Hey, Kei-san. In a jam?" he asked.

"Yeah. Thanks, Genji-san," he said.

"Anytime. So, this creep again..." the man known as Genji said.

"You've met him?" Keitaro asked.

"Yeah. He tried to take us down once. He failed, obviously, but he was tough," Genji replied.

"Hmph. It would seem I have a talent for forgetting faces. No matter. One obstacle or a hundred, I'll take you down, Keitaro-san," Kentaro replied.

"Just try, creep," Genji and Keitaro said at the same time. They both took a fighting stance and narrowed their eyes.

"Alright, you losers asked for it," Kentaro said dismissively. He plunged his sword into the ground and hit his right fist into his left hand, causing a circle of purple energy encasing electricity to form in his hands. He split his hands apart and pointed his orb-covered hand at the pair standing at attention, two orbs of the same appearance as the one in his hand flew towards them. Keitaro held out his hands and the purple field around the projectiles dissipated. Then Genji did the same and the electricity absorbed into his hands, turning into sparks.

Keitaro grabbed Genji's leg and spun around, releasing him and launching him at Kentaro's glowing robot suit. Genji was poised to strike while he was flying at the mechanized man. Keitaro then ran to catch up to Genji with superspeed, also poised to strike. They both reached Kentaro at the same time and hit him likewise. Kentaro hit the wall opposite the side they were on and stayed slouched against the wall that way for a few seconds.

"Nice! We cracked his suit! Thanks, Genji-san," Keitaro said.

"Anytime. Now, I gotta go. The guys are holding the pot roast in a couple days and I gotta go help them set up the decorations," Genji said.

"Alright. See you. Thanks again," Keitaro said, holding out his hand.

"Just call again if you need help," Genji said as he turned to mist and reformed as a chi stone in Keitaro's hand. Keitaro pocketed the stone again.

"...So, you thought you could team up on me with someone, huh? Well, nice try, ex-buddy, but it will take more than that to take-" Kentaro started, getting up.

"-you down, I know. You've said it a few times," Keitaro said.

"Oh, have I now? Well, I'm not finished with you. I'll get you if it's the last thing I do. Even if I have to go through those insufferable girls to do it," Kentaro said, suddenly getting bitter.

"You leave the girls out of this," Keitaro commanded, suddenly sounding more serious.

"Ohoho. It seems I've hit the nail on the head," Kentaro smirked.

"Girls, now!" Keitaro yelled.

"'Girls'? I don't think so. I captured both of the ones walking with you and the rest know nothing of me. What makes you think a bluff will save you now?" Kentaro taunted.

"I'm not the one who needs saving now," Keitaro asked, smirking. The girls just mentioned jumped out from behind the crate. They landed right next to Keitaro.

"What?! How did they escape?!" Kentaro asked.

"Does it really matter now?" Kitsune asked, smirking. With that, the trio raised their hands towards Kentaro...

...and each one of them fired a very-bright-purple laser at him.

"Gah! I hate this one!" Kentaro exclaimed, cowering before the purple beam headed at him.

The beams caught him square in the gut. Not only that, but they actually went through the suit to the person and bounced off him and the inside of the suit, making an audible sizzling sound. The beams just kept bouncing between the suit's interior and the person contained within, causing a sharp "Ow!" to be heard with every other bounce and a fit of giggles from the girls.

"Here, let me help you with that," Keitaro said, grabbing the suit by the neck and punching the head a few times. It cracked like a tin can, leaving Keitaro huffing and puffing like the wolf in the story. Then he put his hands into the crack in the suit, pulling it apart.

Kentaro was knocked out from the punch to the head he sustained. The lasers bounced out of the suit and through the ceiling into the inky night above.

"Wow, he really did have a thing for maximizing space," Kitsune noted.

"Well, the warden is unconscious, so what do you say to a jailbreak?" Keitaro asked.

"But we're not in a jail," Mutsumi noted.

"It was a metaphor, Mutsumi-san. Anyway, let's go home," Keitaro responded. They headed for the door, but stopped halfway, hearing coughing. They turned back to see Kentaro waking up, making them gasp.

"Correction: not unconscious," Kitsune amended, getting in a ready stance.

"Urashima-san...you may have won this battle...but you have no idea what's coming...I'll get you yet!" Kentaro said, voice shaking with rage.

"Yeah, and I'll be here to stop you," Keitaro said, holding his hand out and forming a blue projectile.

But, before he could shoot, a crash could be heard and everyone turned to see Su's mecha-Tama crash through the wall with all the Hinata girls inside. It landed on Kentaro's leg, making him fall on his back. There was a hole in the head of the mechanical turtle transport.

"Su-chan, next time...don't put the battery in the head, please," Naru pleaded in deadpan. Then the Hinata gang looked over the edge of the crashed vehicle.

"Hey, there he is!" Su shouted, running up to Keitaro to kick him. He got kicked, but didn't go flying like usual. Su was smiling like her inner maniac.

"Hey, Su-chan," Keitaro said, rubbing his cheek where Su had kicked him, smiling.

"Hey, Urashima-san. What about us?" Motoko asked. She got out with everyone else and headed over to Keitaro, Kitsune, and Mutsumi.

"Well, normally, I'd scold you girls for following me even though I specifically told you not to, but you actually took down my enemy, so we're okay for now," Keitaro said.

"_You_'d scold _us_? Yeah, that's pretty hard to imagine," Sarah pointed out, making everyone laugh at Keitaro's expense.

Everyone heard the groaning coming from where Kentaro was. They turned abruptly to see Kentaro lift the Mecha-Tama off of his leg while visibly struggling. He yelled, "Now!" to his right.

A man walked out from behind the crates wearing a mask you only see on Halloween horror movies on the chainsaw maniacs. This gave all three of the good guys startled looks.

The mysterious masked man absorbed the projectile Keitaro shot and blasted one of his own at the ceiling, causing an explosion over the Hinata gang and rubble to fall on the group. Then he blasted a very-bright-purple projectile at them. Keitaro had to make a force field to keep everyone unscathed. He closed his eyes so he wouldn't be blinded by the big burst of light that exploded from the projectile as it hit.

When the rubble stopped falling, Keitaro stopped perpetuating the force field protecting the whole lot of them and looked around.

Kentaro was gone. No trace at all. Gone.

"He's gone," Keitaro noted.

"Who cares? Let's just go home now," Kitsune said.

"I second that," Mutsumi said.

"Well, I'm sure it's going to come back to bite us in the heinie, but I think going home to rest is a good idea. Well, good job, girls. Now, let's go," Keitaro said.

"Oh, no. You're not going anywhere until you explain what happened yesterday with the robot and anything else you're hiding!" Motoko yelled.

"Motoko-chan, let's at least get home first, please? I spent lots of energy in that fight just now," Keitaro said.

"You were fighting just now?" Shinobu asked fearfully.

"Yeah. He distracted that guy while I freed Mutsumi-san," Kitsune responded.

"In any event, I'm beat. All in favor of going home this instant, say 'Aye'," Keitaro said tiredly.

"Aye!" came all replies but Motoko's and Naru's.

"Narusegawa-chan, Motoko-chan, what is your vote?" Keitaro asked.

"Oh, fine. But you have to promise that you'll explain everything that you're not telling us, got it?!" Naru yelled.

"I agree with Naru-san. You are not telling us some things we wish to know," Motoko added.

"I promise," Keitaro said.

"Well, alright then. Let's start going home," Naru said.

"Wouldn't you rather take the fun way home?" Keitaro asked.

"What's this 'fun way'?" Kitsune asked, sounding intrigued.

"This," Keitaro said. He raised his hand, now glowing white, and he grew angel wings. He flapped his wings and rose up into the air like...well, an angel.

"Whoa, cool! Wish I could do that," Sarah said.

"Ask and you shall receive," Keitaro said, raising his hand again. Sarah sprouted angel wings the same way he had.

"Whoa! Can I fly?" Sarah asked, flapping each wing.

"With a small amount of practice, yes," Keitaro replied.

"And to think you, of all people, could do this!" Sarah responded.

"I've had practice," Keitaro said.

"Can I have wings, Sempai?" Shinobu asked.

"I want wings! Give me wings, please!" Su asked.

"I'll take you up on that offer, Kei-kun," Kitsune responded.

"Ooh! I want to try these wings!" Mutsumi responded.

"No thanks. I'd rather walk," Naru responded.

"I feel the same as Naru-san," Motoko said with indifference in her voice.

"Okay. Here you go," Keitaro said. He raised his hand, once again glowing white, and everyone who asked got the wings. Two motorcycles also appeared next to Motoko and Naru.

"You girls know how to ride motorcycles, right?" Keitaro asked the two who didn't want the wings.

"Why are there motorcycles here?" Naru asked.

"Well, I didn't want your ride back to be completely unpleasant, so I offered you some motorcycles. Use them if you want," Keitaro explained while the girls were practicing their flying.

"How are you doing all of this?" Motoko asked.

"It's one of my powers. Tell you what: back at the house, if you have questions, I'll answer them. How does that sound?" Keitaro asked.

"Yes. That's good. Thank you," Motoko responded.

"Okay. Well...thanks for the motorcycles, but I will walk," Naru said.

"I will take the walk as well," Motoko responded.

"Okay, girls. See you back at the house," Keitaro said, flying up to the non-existent ceiling. "Come on, everyone. Follow the signal light!" he yelled. "Don't want to lose anyone." With that, he made his hand glow very-bright-purple and flew into the night sky with the Hinata gang. Well, the ones that opted for angel-wing travel.

"Do you think that we just missed out on something good because of how we feel about the one who gave it to us?" Motoko asked, concerned.

"D-Don't be ridiculous!" Naru stuttered, seeming to have to refocus.

"Now I feel conflicted. On one hand, I feel guilty I just judged somebody's offer based on who they are. On the other hand, I feel relieved I didn't take his offer to fly in the sky," Motoko responded.

"Well, I'm _not_ conflicted. I mean, it's not like we're a couple or anything!" Naru responded.

"Well, I, for one, will take the motorcycle he offered. I want to get home tonight. Are you going to come with me?" Motoko asked.

"I'll catch up," Naru said, out of focus.

Motoko just shrugged and took off on the motorcycle.

'There's something wrong here...like the guy who just got away is a good guy...but what good guy would do this? My Magatama... I haven't felt this feeling in a long time. This tensing feeling that I'm missing something big. I thought I would feel it whenever Keitaro-san tried to peek at us or something perverted like that...but he never caused this before. Not even a little. Looks like I'll have to figure out what's up with that,' Naru thought. Then, with caution, she got onto the motorcycle and drove off.

...

"Whoo! Man, who knew flying could be so much fun?" Kitsune asked as she stepped inside the Hinata with everyone else. She was smiling like she just had the time of her life. That's probably not too far off the mark.

"Yeah! That _was_ fun! We scared, like, ten groups of birds on our way back!" Su said, cheering and smiling and laughing.

"I think we scared more than some birds, Su-san. Those people on that plane were freaking out a lot. And those people on the ground. And pretty much everyone who lives where we were flying," Sarah said, also smiling and cheering and laughing with everyone else.

"Yeah. Those pandas were pretty freaked out...hey, do you guys think I should apologize to that farmer for grabbing some of his wheat?" Mutsumi asked.

"No, I think he'd freak out even more," Shinobu responded. Everyone laughed harder at their lives and all the silly comical things their lives contained at that response.

"Oh, you guys are back," Naru said.

"It is very late. Where were all of you?" Motoko asked.

"Huh? Wait, what time is it?" Keitaro asked.

"It's about eleven forty-five," Naru said.

"Wow. I guess we really let time fly away from us, huh?" he asked the girls that just came in.

"Yeah, I guess so. I didn't know we were out that long," Kitsune commented.

'Guess nobody caught it,' Keitaro thought.

"What were you guys doing out so late?" Naru asked.

"Well, we planned to fly straight home, but everyone wanted to fly around. After all, I don't think flying was part of their normal lives before," Keitaro responded.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," Motoko responded.

"Whoa, wait, you're just going to believe a crazy story like that?" Keitaro asked.

"It's been a long couple years, Urashima-san," Motoko said, causing everyone to smile and laugh slightly.

Keitaro clapped his hands together and closed his eyes, getting everyones' attention. Then, he opened with, "Girls, I just want to apologize for not saying anything sooner about my powers. I just knew that anyone who knew about my secret would have to be able to protect themselves from really dangerous men."

"But we can protect ourselves," Motoko said, looking not too impressed.

"Not against these people. No offense to you girls, but these guys have been training since childhood. They've had years of experience and many victories. So many people just like them try to kidnap the people just like me. They use any means necessary, like kidnapping anyone who knows someone like me," Keitaro responded.

"How do you know something like that would happen? Seems unlikely," Sarah commented.

"Seven years ago, three of my best friends went missing after I told them my secret," Keitaro responded.

"Oh, no! That sounds terrible! I feel sorry for you! Et cetera," the girls responded.

"Yeah, they went missing all in the same week, and I haven't seen them since then. Since then, I've vowed to keep this a secret, risking the same thing happening to anyone else who knew. Now, that includes you girls. I need you to promise me you'll never tell another living soul about my powers or you'll all be in great danger. So much is at stake here," Keitaro said.

"We promise," all the girls said at varying times.

"As much as I believe you, a verbal promise is not enough. I need you to make a Pact of Powerful Secrecy. In the Pact, you state that, if you reveal the powers of someone else to the world, directly or otherwise, you will be imprisoned for eternity and the memory of your confession erased from the memory of everyone who knows. Unless you directly publicize it. Then you'll be judged by the leader of the Guardians of God. Then, depending on the verdict, you might perish," Keitaro said.

"Whoa, whoa...'perish'? As in 'die' kind of 'perish'?" Naru asked.

"Yeah. Sounds grim, but it's a punishment for the fools or bad men who want material wealth or any benefit this secret could give them," Keitaro said.

"Wow. Sounds serious. Alright, we'll do it. Where's the pencil and paper?" Kitsune asked. At saying everyone would do it, everyone nodded.

"Not a written pact. Come closer," Keitaro said, gesturing for the girls to come over to where he was standing. Once everyone was surrounding him, he reached his hand out.

"Everyone, I need you to place your hand above mine," he said.

"Why?" Naru asked.

"The Pact of Powerful Secrecy. Since all of you saw and knew at the same time, you need to make the Pact at the same time. Now, place your hands above each others'," Keitaro explained. They did as they were commanded. They looked like a girls' basketball team about to get out of a pre-game huddle (A/N: That's what they're called, right? I wouldn't know. I don't play sports much). Keitaro put his hand under the pile of hands. An orb started to form. But, rather than a solid orb, the light formed just the lines of an icosahedron (A/N: I can't really describe it because it is a really a complicated 3D shape. I can say, though, that it is made of twenty equilateral triangles and it's kind of spherical. Kind of complicated math, really).

"Whoa!" nearly every girl exclaimed.

"Definitely not one of the things we saw back at that guy Kentaro-san's hideout," Kitsune remarked.

Suddenly, the place they were standing, the surroundings, everything around them except each other and the complicated shape shifted, as if they were spinning, to a very celestial background. The walls and the ceiling gave way to space and the Hinata's living room floor changed to a very ancient-looking stone platform with a magical aqua glowing spiral. There was a glowing translucent aqua bubble around this platform. Their hands were above the center of the spiral.

"Cool! Where are we?" everyone exclaimed without synchronization.

"We're at the Spire of the Guardians of God. Here, anyone who discovers the powers of any of the Guardians of God must agree to the Pact of Powerful Secrecy to protect themselves and their superhuman friends. The Guardians also take this pact," Keitaro explained.

"'Guardians of God'? I am not familiar with this name," Motoko noted.

"That's because we actively try to hide who we are. The Guardians of God are a group who possess the Kami Energies and control over them," Keitaro explained.

"'Kami Energies'? What are those?" Naru asked.

"Ah, now this I have heard of. Kami Energies are powerful metaphysical energies that can affect the physical world," Motoko explained.

"Huh?" Shinobu asked. She looked just as confused as everyone else.

"Basically, they're superpowers," Keitaro explained.

"Ooohhh," everyone responded.

"Motoko-chan, were you aware that _ki_ was a Kami Energy?" Keitaro asked.

"W-Wh-What? It is?" she asked.

"Yes, it is. You, however, have only been taught the half that requires a weapon as a medium: _Shinmei-ryu_. It is one of the many schools that teach how to use weapons with _ki_, but _Shinmei-ryu_ is one of the best schools to teach how to use a katana as the weapon. Most other schools teach how to use _ki_ with either blunt weapons or broadswords, as they're easier to use _ki _with," Keitaro explained. Snoring could be heard.

"WHAT? And how do you know so much about it?" Motoko asked, sounding intrigued but playing tough in an attempt to mask it.

"Because, when I became a Guardian, I viewed the history of the energies. One of these energies was _ki_," Keitaro explained.

"Interesting," Motoko responded after a pause, seeming to be at a loss of words.

"You can wake up now, everyone. I'm done explaining," Keitaro said, waking everyone up. They all awoke suddenly, as if they had no idea where they were. "Everyone, I need you to place your hands back inside the orb," he commanded.

"That is an icosahedron," Su said matter-of-factly as she was doing it.

"Yeah. Anyway, please reassume the pact position," Keitaro commanded. Everyone did as told. "You must all vow never to reveal the secret you have just learned to anyone outside of this group standing here. Doing so will result in memory wiping you of my identity and existence. If you publicize this secret, you will be judged by the leader of the Guardians of God. You must never abuse or take advantage of my powers, for that is an offense punishable by death. You must keep this secret, for your life is in great risk if you fail to do so. Do you agree to the Pact of Powerful Secrecy?" Keitaro said, sounding like an ancient religious announcer. As if it was a thing.

"Yes!" everyone said at the same time. They all looked at the icosahedron. Everyone was surprised to see multiple orbs come out of it. Their exact word was, "Whoa!" Solid purple orbs hovered above Kitsune and Mutsumi, a fainter (but still quite solid) blue orb rested above Motoko, translucent red orbs hovered above Shinobu and Naru, and translucent yellow orbs hovered above Sarah and Su. And, the most of all, a space-like orb, a cliff-brown orb, a flesh-colored orb, a heavenly white orb, and a gunmetal grey orb, all basketball-sized, appeared above Keitaro. Keitaro looked totally surprised, making an audible gasp. A chain formed to link all the orbs above the girls and the ones above Keitaro's, which had moved to the center. The chains started glowing, getting so bright as to almost blind them. Then the chains vanished, along with the orbs.

"Whoa! Now _that_ was the coolest thing I've seen all night!" Kitsune said.

"So, Urashima-san, how do we get out of here?" Motoko asked, looking around.

Keitaro didn't respond.

"Urashima-san? I asked you a question," Motoko said firmly.

"Hmm? Oh, sorry, I was distracted," Keitaro responded.

"Well, what was distracting you?" Mutsumi asked gently.

"It's...it's nothing. Just the shopping list," Keitaro lied.

"'The shopping list'? Come on, just tell us. We're not going to tell anyone," Kitsune responded.

"It's nothing. I'm sure it'll stop bothering me in a few minutes. Now, should we be getting back?" Keitaro lied, changing the subject.

"Sure," everyone replied.

"Alright, now put your hands one atop the other," Keitaro commanded. Everyone did so. Another icosahedron-thing appeared around the hands, causing them to observe their surroundings once more. This time, it was the stone spiral that gave way to wood floor and the endless space around them suddenly changed to the Hinata-sou living room walls and ceiling.

From there, everyone went to their bedrooms. Obviously, they forgot something. Of course, anyone who had the kind of day they had would want a good night's sleep. Let's take a look into some of their businesses, shall we? Most of them were thinking along the same lines, anyway.

Naru was lying awake. Her eyes were closed but she was really awake. 'I am _ki_ glad those two are safe. At least they didn't get hurt. If that idiot hadn't saved the day, they might be dead. Still, what _was_ that idiot doing there? I mean, he had no reason to be there, but he was. Plus, he said he was in a fight before we got there. Not to mention, he saved all of us from the falling rubble. I guess he _can_ be a decent man when he tries. Wait...it feels like I was forgetting something,' she was thinking.

Motoko, meanwhile, was meditating. Well, she would've been, had her thoughts not been troubling her. '_Ki_ is a Kami Energy? That is very cool indeed. I wish, though, that I knew this sooner. That idiot was a big dummy for not telling me sooner. Why didn't he tell me? Or any of us? Why did he have to hide this truth so badly?' she wondered.

Su wasn't sleeping for a change. Normally, someone finds her hanging from the rafters of someone's room or sleeping next to them (kind of creepy how she never remembered getting in their bed). Tonight, however, she was walking to Keitaro's room to ask him if he knew what that purple ball was. She was bringing it with her to show him. She got to her destination and opened the door quietly. She walked into his room and tapped on his shoulder.

"Kei-kun? Are you awake?" she asked.

"Su-chan? What did you need?" Keitaro asked, rubbing his eyes groggily.

"Do you know what this is? Because I have no clue. I can't even begin to investigate its origins," Su responded.

"Oh, that. Yeah, don't worry. That's just something I call the Hulk Ball. Makes anyone who hits it really angry at nothing and lets them hit extremely hard," Keitaro explained groggily.

"'Hulk Ball'? Why call it a 'Hulk Ball'?" Su asked.

"Yeah. A superhero from a comic book in America. A comic is like manga, but backwards," Keitaro explained.

"That sounds cool!" Su said.

"Yeah, it's kind of cool. But where did you get it?" Keitaro asked.

"Motoko-chan told me she found it in the hot springs," Su responded.

"Oh, so that's where it landed. Well, don't worry. Kitsune-chan already used all the power in it, so it's almost useless," Keitaro said.

"Oh, okay," Su said.

Su leapt out of the room towards her own room, again, for a change. Once she was gone, Keitaro resumed looking straight up, lost in thought. 'I can't believe it. I knew Motoko-chan had _ki_ energy and I found out about Mutsumi-chan and Kitsune-chan, but what I saw is ridiculous. There was an orb above everyone's head! Well that would explain Su-chan's and Sarah-chan's crazy amount of energy. And also why Narusegawa-chan can hit so hard. And also Kitsune-chan being so manipulative. Okay, maybe it was kind of obvious before, but still...I guess I'll just have to help them when the time is right,' he thought. Then the plywood panel moved above him and Naru popped her head through the hole in the floor.

"Did you say something, Keitaro-san?" she asked.

"Huh? No," Keitaro responded.

"Well, I heard a voice coming from down here and it sounded like you, so I thought it was you," Keitaro said.

"I didn't say anything," Keitaro repeated.

"Okay. Well, good night," Naru saId, replacing the plywood panel.

Once she was gone, Keitaro resumed looking at the ceiling again. 'Why do I keep doing that?' he asked himself again.

Naru took the plywood panel off the hole again and poked her head through.

"Okay, I know I heard that. What is it you keep doing?" Naru asked, sounding a little frustrated.

"Oh, uh..." Keitaro started.

'She's onto me,' he thought.

"Hey, where'd that thought bubble come from?" Naru asked suspiciously.

'Busted!' he thought.

...

"Mr. Boss, please. I-" Kentaro started. He was at another hideout with the masked man who rescued him. It simply looked like another warehouse, save for the line of training dummies and the lab in the corner.

"You let him get away!" the masked man, known as The Boss, said bitterly at the man in the suit.

"Please, listen! I know I let him get away with our two hostages-" here the masked man folded his arms, as if in disappointment "-but I've still gathered enough _psi_ energy to execute my final plan. One that will get him good," Kentaro finished.

"Oh? And what, pray tell, is this 'final plan' of yours?" the masked man asked, sounding sarcastic and skeptical and not the least bit interested.

"Oh, you'll see. And once I finish this plan, Keitaro-san will wish he was never born!" Kentaro said, sounding as desperate as he did sure of his plan.

"...This had better work. You have failed me twice already. You have one more chance. Be sure it doesn't go to waste. Or else..." Here the masked man turned to the practice dummy. He shouted, "Hah!" at one of the training dummies, making a loud cracking sound. The training dummy fell apart into hundreds of pieces and landed in a heap on the floor against the opposite wall. The masked man looked at Kentaro, crossing his arms.

"I-I understand," Kentaro said, nervous.

|\/\/|

And that's the long chapter of a chapter. Sorry it took so long. School got in the way. A lot. And idea lead to idea that lead to idea in this chapter. But anyway...

Naru: That thing in the beginning was NOT funny!

Motoko: Yeah! I nearly fainted in that closet thinking it was that guy! (points to Keitaro)

Chris: No, you nearly revealed your presence to the other girls.

Kitsune: How dare you involve all of us in your twisted games!

Chris: Oh, not all of you. I locked Su, Sarah, and Shinobu in a different closet. It was the one next to yours.

Su: (smiling like a maniac) Yeah! I heard moaning!

Sarah: I didn't. I was playing a game on my DS.

Shinobu: I fell asleep.

(Twenty more seconds of silence, where everyone stared at the little ones)

Chris: Again, _awk_-ward!

[|-=-|]

Also, I would like you, the readers, to think of this as kind of like a TV show. This chapter would have ended the four-part series premiere and the next several chapters will not advance the story plot and will actually be more comical and imaginative, imagining scenarios with the current situation. It's like the TV show Lab Rats. In fact, that show was my main inspiration for this story.

Anyway...I think that's it, so

Bye readers!


	5. Chapter 5: And Now We Know

A/N: Hey, everybody. Sorry for the reeeeealy long wait. School interfered with my existence (because you can't call it a life) once again. How are you doing? Because I'm just peachy. I solved a few murder cases. Can any of you guess what happened? Okay, I'll talk. I got the first three games in the "Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney" series (Ace Attorney, Justice for All, Trials and Tribulations) on my phone. How fun! Plus, the games give me some ideas for my stories, so I may play them a little while making stories. Anyone play the game before?

[|-=-|]

Su: Game? What game?

Sarah: Su, that's a murder game.

Su: Ooh, a murder game? Why is a grade-school boy playing a murder game?

(puts hand to ear)

Su: Huh? What do you mean "you're old enough to play those games"?

(puts hand to ear)

Su: Oh, you're spoiled?

(puts hand to ear)

Su: I see.

Motoko: Uh, Su...what are you doing?

Su: You don't hear him talking?

Naru: Uh...no. Who?

Su: Oh, well, right now, he's saying you guys can't hear him because you guys are sane.

Keitaro: Huh?

Kitsune: How is that a reasonable argument?

Su: He says that it's easier to understand something if you yourself are harder to understand.

Mutsumi: Okay, I'm confused.

Su: Hahahahaha! He just told me a funny joke!

Haruka: What was the joke?

Su: Well...okay, here it is. Two guys walk into a building. You would think one of them would have seen it! Hahahaha!

Keitaro: Umm...no offense to the voice in your head, Su, but that was a terrible joke.

Su: That's what he said!

Naru: Umm...are you sure that was the same voice that questioned your sanity?

Su: Nope! Oh, he just said I'm one of his favorite characters!

Voice: No, I didn't!

Naru: (shocked) Well, I heard thaT.

Keitaro: (shocked) Who was that?

Su: That was the voice!

Voice: Yep, that's me! Just call me Voice! I'm the author's pre-story avatar!

Motoko: "Pre-story"?

Voice: Yeah. Before the story actually starts in that chapter.

Naru: Oh, yeah. Isn't this a pre-story dialogue? And what happened to Chris? I kinda missed pounding him into the ground.

Voice: Yes, bus, and _that's not very nice_!

Naru: (sticks tongue out)

Voice: You do realize I'm over behind Motoko, right? You just stuck your tongue in Su's face.

Naru: Eek!

Athena: Hah! You fell right into that one!

Everyone but Voice and Athena: GAH! Who are you?

Athena: I'm Athena Cykes. I'm visiting from a game. I'm going to appear here in the pre-story dialogue with _my_ friends.

Motoko: Where did you come from?

Apollo: We're from the game "Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies".

Naru: Gah! A guy! What are you doing in an all-girls dorm?

Trucy: Oh, this is an all-girls dorm? Well, then how did a guy other than Polly get here?

Kitsune: Yeah, it's a long story...wait, who are _you_?

Trucy: I'm with them.

Motoko: What is the meaning of this, Voice?

Voice: Well, I like the games as much as the manga series, so I'll add them to the beginning dialogue. I'm even planning on doing a crossover story once, set after the events of the game.

Everyone: Huh?

Voice: I'm making a story with the Hinata girls and Keitaro and the cast of Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies.

Everyone: Okay, cool.

Hinata group: Oh, and also, WHAT THE- (Hinata group faints)

Phoenix: Well, that went well.

Voice: Yeah, uh, they're only used to Keitaro.

Pearl: Umm, is Keitaro the guy with the square glasses?

Voice: Yes, Pearl.

Athena: Oh, look over there! A ladder! And a really beat up one at that!

Apollo: Huh? Ladder? No, Athena, it's called a 'stepladder'.

Athena: Oh, Apollo. You with your narrow-minded views.

Phoenix and Pearl: This seems so familiar somehow.

[|-=-|]

Disclaimer: I do not own Love Hina (and it's characters) or the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney franchise. The rights, respectively, go to Ken Akamatsu and Capcom. And, seriously, you guys should go check out the series. It's a good series; it has a good story. I won't spoil any details, but I will say that Athena is a new character to the story, only added in the most recent game, which is Dual Destinies. Also, remember how I said that this chapter won't progress the story? Well, I don't think I can keep that promise. I don't think there's enough material to make random adventures yet, so this chapter will progress the story somewhat. Anyway, STORY START!

|/\/\|

From last time:

"Mr. Boss, please. I-" Kentaro started. He was at another hideout with the masked man who rescued him. It simply looked like another warehouse, save for the line of training dummies and the lab in the corner.

"You let him get away!" the masked man, known as The Boss, said bitterly at the man in the suit.

"Please, listen! I know I let him get away with our two hostages-" here the masked man folded his arms, as if in disappointment "-but I've still gathered enough _psi _energy to execute my final plan. One that will get him good," Kentaro finished.

"Oh? And what, pray tell, is this 'final plan' of yours?" the masked man asked, sounding sarcastic and skeptical and not the least bit interested.

"Oh, you'll see. And once I finish this plan, Keitaro-san will wish he was never born!" Kentaro said, sounding as desperate as he did sure of his plan.

"...This had better work. You have failed me twice already. You have one more chance. Be sure it doesn't go to waste. Or else..." Here the masked man turned to the practice dummy. He shouted, "Hah!" at one of the training dummies, making a loud cracking sound. The training dummy fell apart into hundreds of pieces and landed in a heap on the floor against the opposite wall. The masked man looked at Kentaro, crossing his arms.

"I-I understand," Kentaro said, nervous.

...

The next morning came, a new day for these zany residents of Hinata House.

Well, it was certainly more zany than the whole cast of residents as a team.

Shinobu woke up early to start making breakfast. She actually woke up earlier than normal for some reason. 'Wow. I feel energized. I wonder why...' she thought as she was walking to the hot springs. She had gotten up about an hour early. She changed into her hot springs clothes (or lack thereof) and sunk into the warm water, sighing as the steam rolled in front of her face and letting her thoughts took over her mind.

"Good morning, Shinobu-chan."

"Gah!" Well, until she noticed that everyone was there wearing a towel. Even Keitaro was there, which caused even more confusion. And he was even wearing a blindfold, making it all the more confusing. It was all so...complicated.

"Sempai? What's going on?" she asked.

"We were trying to ask him questions," Naru whispered.

"Why are you doing it in the hot springs?" Shinobu asked.

"We had to offer him something he would take without suspecting anything," Kitsune whispered.

"Besides, he guaranteed he could not see anything with that blindfold on," Motoko added in a whisper.

"Why are you doing it so early in the morning?" Shinobu asked.

"Everybody wanted answers," Mutsumi said with a shrug.

"CANNONBALL!" Su and Sarah yelled out of nowhere, causing a splash. As the natural reaction, everyone shielded themselves from the splashing water.

"Where did you girls go?" Naru asked.

"Oh, we were chasing each other around since a couple hours ago," Sarah answered.

"But that would mean you were up since about three in the morning," Kitsune pointed out.

"Yeah," Su responded, sounding serious and sincere, putting a wide-eyed look of shock on everyone else's faces.

"Yeesh. Where do you two get your energy?" Kitsune asked.

"Yeah, where?" Keitaro asked.

Su and Sarah just shrugged, humming an "I don't know."

"Anyway...can someone explain to me what's going on?" Shinobu asked.

"Okay, I will. Well..." Kitsune started, looking up and to the left.

"Hey, where'd that big thought bubble come from?" Naru asked.

"It's best not to think about it," Kitsune responded, everyone looking at the thought bubble.

Flashback:

_We were walking to the hot springs when we saw Kei-kun sitting on the couch, watching TV. Most of us wanted him to come with us to the hot springs, so we whispered an agreement that he could come with us. Really, the only ones who disagreed to it at first were Naru and Motoko. So we asked Su and Sarah for a vote. Su pretty much agreed and Sarah said she wanted him to come in, too. Then they started to chase each other around._

_So we went up to him on the couch. I said, "Hey, Kei-kun. We're going to the hot springs. Wanna come with us?"_

_Then he said, "Huh? But you don't normally ask me to go in with you. Never!" _

_Then Naru-san said, "I just found out my best friend is superhuman. I don't think that qualifies as 'normal'!"_

_Then he said, "When did you find out about _that_?" _

_Then I said, "I told her,"_

_Then Mutsumi-san said, "Please, Kei-kun?"_

_Then he said, "Well, if you're insisting, I guess I can come in with you. Just let me do something first. Then he reached into his pocket._

_Then Motoko-san said, "What is it you need to do?" like it was a threat._

_Then Kei-kun said, "I was blindfolding myself." _

_Then we thanked him. _

_Then Naru-san asked him, "Wait...how do we know you're not going to peek?" like he was a criminal or something._

_Then Kei-kun said, "This is a special blindfold that makes me see everyone in clothes no matter what's going on. I'll show you."_

_Then we went to the dressing rooms and...well, undressed, right in front of him. He had no reaction even though he was looking right at us while we were undressing. Then Naru-san asked him to prove that he couldn't see us naked, so he took off the blindfold and gave it to her. His eyes were closed._

_Naru-san put on the blindfold and she said, "Wow. It actually works. Where did you get this?"_

_Then he said, "I made it with one of my powers."_

"And that's how we ended up here with him blindfolded," Kitsune finished.

"Why did you say 'then' so many times?" Su asked.

"I was narrating. I'm not an author looking for popular opinion," Kitsune said.

"Really? I thought you were an author for that newspaper," Motoko pointed out.

"Oh, I just do that for spare change. It's freelance, remember?" Kitsune responded.

"Anyway...so, Urashima-san, are you going to explain your 'powers' to us?" Motoko asked.

"Motoko-san! I thought we agreed on being subtle!" Naru yelled.

"D'oh!" she exclaimed.

"Motoko-san!" Kitsune exclaimed back in surprise.

"Alright, girls, no need to act like that old American TV show. I was going to explain my powers to you anyway. You girls really have to be more quiet. I can hear you when you're only five feet away from me, you know," Keitaro said, smiling.

"What? But we were whispering," Motoko said.

"I could still hear you. I have super-senses," Keitaro explained.

"What? Super-senses? That's baloney! Prove it!" Naru said.

"Okay. The TV is still on in the living room," Keitaro responded.

"Huh? But we turned it off," Kitsune said, putting her hand on her chin.

"No, you really didn't. I could hear it all night," Keitaro responded.

"You could have turned it on after we were asleep!" Naru argued.

"Alright, I'll give you that. I can't exactly prove that I didn't turn the TV on after you girls were asleep. But...I do know that a red bird is going to pass over us in fourteen seconds going that way. He's carrying a letter," Keitaro said, pointing towards the house at saying 'that way'. Fourteen seconds later, everyone gasped in shock at the truth of that statement. They saw exactly what he described.

"How did you-?" Naru asked.

"I saw the bird's red through a gap in the fence and heard a bird call," Keitaro answered.

"Do you have x-ray vision?" Naru asked, moving to shield the younger girls on instinct.

"No, I never learned that. I kept refusing my teacher's offer," Keitaro responded.

"You had a teacher that offered to teach you x-ray vision?" Kitsune asked.

"Yeah. I thought he was a little too pervy for his own good, but he was still a good teacher and a good person," Keitaro responded.

"What kind of male is considered 'good'? Even a male who _isn't _pervy is still a weakling," Motoko asked like someone told her a crazy fact.

"Well, he may have been pervy, but he still helped people and he was very nice to his students," Keitaro responded, barely reacting to Motoko's use of tone. "Anyway, do you want me to explain my powers now? Sorry I forgot last night, by the way," Keitaro asked.

"Yes, please," Motoko responded.

"Well..." Keitaro started, holding his hand in front of him and making orbs appear, "...I have quite a few Kami energies. Some of them are simple yet powerful while some of them are so complicated that one person alone cannot use it fully. One of these is psI energy. See? It's the purple swirling one right there," he continued, pointing to said orb. The orbs as a whole were arranged a little oddly. There was a basketball-sized black one that looked like space, a basketball-sized white one that looked like a dream, a basketball-sized gunmetal gray one that looked like part of a really large gun, a basketball-sized brown one that looked like it could have been taken out from a cliffside, a basketball-sized peach-colored one that somewhat resembled a person, and a tennis ball-sized dark green one that looked more like a tool ball than a ball of energy. When he pointed to an orb, not including the white, dark green, and gunmetal gray ones, the orb dissolved to reveal more orbs, only tennis ball-sized and differently-colored. Right now, he was pointing to where the peach one was, where five orbs hovered in the place of the peach one.

"Ooh, pretty," Mutsumi noted.

"I have both kinds of _psi _energy, so the psI orb is swirling with two colors. Just like I have two kinds of the yellow energy, which is called _hypo_ energy. These yellow and purple orbs, along with the swirling blue orb for _ki_, that swirling red orb, which is called _power _energy, and the bright gray one, called _adapt _energy, make what are called the _human _energies. All of these energies are either enhancements of a human's abilities or gateways to accessing more of human potential. They're the mind, willpower, strength, stamina, and adaptability of a human being. But you've probably noticed the other ones, right? Those are other energies I have. I'll explain them all if you'd like."

"Please do," Motoko said, seeming interested.

"That white orb is _dream_ energy, which is basically a kind of _psi_ energy, only it works a little different from _psi_ energy, so it's its own separate kind. It lets me turn thoughts into reality," Keitaro explained.

"Whoa. Would it be possible to make money with that?" Kitsune asked.

"Technically, yes, but-" he responded.

"Can you make the money in my head appear?" Kitsune asked, making it sound like a command.

"Uh, you should know that-" Keitaro started.

"Please?" Kitsune begged.

"...All right, how much?" Keitaro sighed.

"How about a thousand yen, to start off?" Kitsune responded.

"Alright. All you have to do is imagine it. You got it?" Keitaro asked.

"Yep. I'm imagining it. Just do it already!" Kitsune whined.

"Alright," the man sighed. He held up his free hand, white particles forming another orb of white in his hand, and crushed the resulting orb. The inside of his hand glowed white. He reached for Kitsune's head with that hand, his hand somehow actually breaching her head, while not actually killing her or reaching the other side of her head. Everyone observed this.

"Whoa. That is freaky," Shinobu commented squeamishly, nearly fainting.

Then Keitaro pulled his hand back, revealing a stack of cash as tall as four Tamas standing on each other's heads.

Kitsune's eyes widened at what she was seeing, definitely not a normal occurrence.

"Wow! Amazing! Thanks, Kei-kun!" Kitsune said, hugging him.

"Um, Kitsune-chan-" Keitaro started. Sadly, Kitsune was already gone, running to the changing room.

"I tried to warn her..." Keitaro sighed.

"Do we want to know what you tried to warn her about?" Naru asked, face in a frown.

"I tried to warn her that the money she just got from that is going to disappear in a day or so," Keitaro said.

"What? Why would you do that?" Naru asked.

"She wouldn't listen, would she? When it comes to money, she starts tuning out anything not related to finance," Keitaro sighed. "I guess I'll just keep going.

"Anyway, that big gray one is _reality _energy. It lets me see anywhere in this point in time and teleport to anywhere I can see with this. For example..." Keitaro looked into the orb, "In America, a boy is practicing Japanese. See?"

"Oh, wow. That's pretty cool," was the general response.

"Wait, couldn't you use this to spy on us?" Naru asked.

"Nope. I changed this energy from the pervert's fantasy it was when I got it into an energy that respects peoples' privacy and so it's unable to spy on anyone needing privacy," Keitaro explained.

"Okay, then show us," Naru asked.

"Well, try looking into the orb now. It just doesn't show anything when I try to look at this hot spring from above. And if I try to look at a part of the Hinata-sou with the hot spring in it, all I see is the house. The hot springs is censored out and will be anytime they're not empty," Keitaro explained.

"Oh. I see," Naru commented.

"Anyway, moving on. Next are the _cosmo_ energies. It's that black orb that looks like space. Just like the _human_ energies, _cosmo_ energies are made up of four different types of energies: _solar_, _stellar_, _lunar_, and _void_. They are used in space most of the time. But they do offer some powers on Earth. Like making sunlight," Keitaro explained, holding out his hand and making it glow with sunlight.

"Wow. I like it. It feels warm," Mutsumi said.

"Yep," Keitaro said, drawing his now-normal hand back, "Anyway, moving on, There's that brown orb. This is actually a group of energies called the _terran _energies. All they really are are the four elements, _earth_, _fire_, _water_, and _air_, plus another one, _nature_. I use the _nature_ power to heal myself. That's what you saw me do last night when my hand was glowing green, Mutsumi-chan," Keitaro explained.

"Oh, cool. So, you can heal yourself with this?" Mutsumi asked.

"Yeah. It actually takes _nature_ energy and uses it to heal the wound faster than normal. It helps when I get hit for another accident and I need to clean," Keitaro replied.

"Oh, you mean another _perversion_?" Motoko asked.

"Uh...no, I mean 'accident'. It's not like I _mean _to walk in on anyone," Keitaro responded.

"Hmph," Motoko responded.

Electing to drop the subject, Shinobu asked, "So, um, Sempai, about that pact thing we had to take, uh, what were those orbs above us for?"

"Well, Shinobu-chan, those orbs showed how much energy you had. Like, for example, Naru-chan's punch," Keitaro responded.

"What about it?" Naru asked, suddenly sounding intrigued.

"Well, don't you ever wonder how you do it?" Keitaro asked.

"Hmm...never really given it much thought. It's just been that way for a few years and I never thought anything strange was going on," Naru responded.

"Well, apparently, you actually have a little bit of _power _energy, but it's not really enough to do much of anything on its own. That's why you only hit like that when you're angry. Like just yesterday when you smashed me to the dump," Keitaro explained.

"Ooohhhhh, so that's why. Well, I guess that's one mystery solved," Naru responded.

"Yeah. And Shinobu-chan?" Keitaro addressed.

"Yes, Sempai?" Shinobu responded.

"You're the same way. The only difference is that you rarely get angry, as far as I know," Keitaro answered.

"Wow. So Naru-sempai and I would do the same damage when we're angry?" Shinobu asked.

"Well...not quite. You see, just the fact that you're angry doesn't settle everything. Your proportions are different from Naru-chan's when it comes to Kami energies because you're...uh...smaller than her. Plus, when she gets angry, it's not just a little anger; it's a lot. Which is why she can smash me a little over 200 miles every time another accident happens," Keitaro explained.

"You mean another _perversion_?" Motoko asked again.

"Again, no. I never _mean _to grab anything I shouldn't. But, usually, the circumstances make it look bad," Keitaro responded.

"Hmph," Motoko responded.

"Anyway, Su-chan and Sarah-chan also have trace amounts of _hypo_ energy, but, like Shinobu-chan and Naru-chan, it's not enough to manipulate right now. By the way, I need to do something to make sure your situations don't get out of hand. Are you okay with it?" Keitaro explained.

"What exactly is it you need to do?" Motoko asked skeptically.

"I need to put an energy level detector on you four so that I'll know how much energy you girls have. I need to know because, no matter what energy, it's never good to allow too much to accumulate. If it goes out of control, you would be unable to know what will be destroyed and what will be annihilated," Keitaro explained.

"Okay...no pressure...but what could _you _do to stop it?" Naru asked.

"I can teach you how to remove the excess energy and to control it. So, do I have your girls' permission?" Keitaro answered.

"Fine," Naru answered.

"Yay!" Su cheered.

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Sarah mumbled.

"Sure, Sempai!" Shinobu smiled.

"Well, even if half of the humans on it are worthless, I do not want to destroy the world, so you have my permission," Motoko said stoically.

'Was your permission really necessary?' Keitaro thought.

"So, what did I miss?" Kitsune's voice asked, followed by the image of Kitsune carrying a stack of lottery tickets and a coin.

"Uh...something important. The girls have Kami energies, too, but only trace amounts. I need to put an energy level monitor on them to make sure their energy levels don't go over nine thousand," Keitaro explained.

"Really? You used Dragon Ball Z as a joke?" Sarah asked.

"No, it was a metaphor. I said 'over nine thousand' meaning 'too much'. What I meant was that I needed to make sure they didn't build up too much energy," Keitaro responded.

"Oh, okay. Then it was sort of clever," Sarah conceded.

"No, I knew it was terrible, anyway," Keitaro responded. "Now, you saw that dark green orb, right? That's something all the Guardians of the Galaxy get. It's for situations like this where there's Kami energy involved. Comes in handy when you find out that all your friends suddenly have Kami energy and have had some for a while now," he joked, pushing a green orb into Shinobu, Naru, Su, and Sarah's backs, where it grafted into their backs, leaving a translucent, almost-invisible circle of almost-red or almost-yellow, the former for Shinobu and Naru and the latter for Su and Sarah.

"And now we're done," Keitaro said.

"Well, that was a lot less painful than I thought it would be," Naru said.

"What was that?" Keitaro asked.

"Oh, nothing," Naru said innocently.

"Ooh, it kind of tickles," Su noted.

"Uh...they're not supposed to tickle. They're just supposed to feel a little cold on the back, not tickle," Keitaro said.

"Yeah, that's how it feels on _me_," Naru said, putting her hand on her chin, wondering.

"Yeah. I feel like I want a blanket all of a sudden," Shinobu added.

"Su-san, there's a spider on your back!" Sarah said, jumping away from Su in a panic.

"*scream* A spider?! Su-chan, watch out!" Motoko said, about to smash the spider.

"Wait!" Keitaro said, getting in between Motoko and the spider.

"What is it, Urashima-san?" Motoko asked listlessly.

"She says she just wants to relax in the springs and Su-chan almost sat on her," Keitaro explained.

"Huh? How do you know?" Naru asked.

"I asked her," Keitaro said, petting the big spider that was just standing there on a rock now, where everyone was watching.

"You 'asked' her?" Motoko asked.

"It's a 'her'?" Su asked.

"I can also talk to animals. I kind of invented it. Girls, this is Yuki-chan. Yuki-chan, this is- oh, right, you've been here for a few years. Say hi, Yuki-chan," Keitaro said. The spider waved at the girls, making them gasp, wide-eyed. Then they slowly waved, still bewildered.

"Hi, Yuki-chan. Nice to meet you!" Mutsumi greeted, suddenly smiling and walking towards the spider to gently shake one of its legs, which the spider did also.

"Hmm...even when she's greeting a spider, that nice smile does _not_ quit," Naru noted.

"Yeah," everyone added.

"You know, animals are often used in psychology. At least, that's what I read the other day. A counselor brought in a cat and the cat rehabilitated a man that was a serial killer the week before," Keitaro said matter-of-factly.

"Really?" Su asked, leaning in and listening attentively.

"Yeah. The first time they met, the serial killer was about to kill the cat because he was hallucinating, but the cat started rubbing his leg and the man kinda became fond of the cat. Now they're living here in Hinata and the counselor got another few thousand dollars," Keitaro responded.

"Interesting," Motoko responded.

"Was this counselor, by any chance, someone named 'Mujona Tonchiki'?" Kitsune asked.

"Yeah. How did you know?" Keitaro asked.

"Ugh. I hate that guy. He's nothing but a pompous blowhard. Seriously, one time a few years ago, that guy took a wallet somebody else dropped and pocketed the money right in front of my eyes," Kitsune said repulsively.

"Really? Sure sounds like he lied when he said he was a 'humble, honest, average guy' in his ad. More like an average _thief_!" Naru responded.

"I know, right? And then I looked at the ID card inside. The wallet apparently belonged to someone named Yoko Konno. She was about my age," Kitsune said.

"Wait, 'Konno'? Is she your sister or something?" Naru asked.

"It would look like it...but I don't remember having a sister. My mom always said I was an only child, so I assumed this must be someone unrelated to me," Kitsune explained.

"Huh," Naru said, getting lost in thought.

"Anyway...I bet Mutsumi-san would make a good therapist," Keitaro said as Tama landed on his head, smiling.

"Yeah," Kitsune said. She looked like she came up with a way to rob a bank the way her eyes were flashing with yen signs.

"You should really get that looked at," Naru commented at seeing Kitsune's eyes.

"So, anyway, do we need anything else from the store?" Shinobu asked.

"Huh? We were just talking about Kitsune-san's money-eye problem. Where did that question come from?" Naru commented.

"I know, but I was thinking of what we needed from the store after I saw Kitsune-san's money-eyes," Shinobu said.

"Huh? 'Money-eyes'? What are you talking about?" Kitsune asked, suddenly stopping with the money eyes.

"I'll explain it," Naru said grumpily, going over to Kitsune and explaining.

"Uh...I think we need rice," Keitaro noted.

"Actually, I was also planning on making sugiyama, so I needed some salmon. Could you get some salmon from the store, Sempai?" Shinobu asked.

"Actually, I can just run down to the ocean. You wanted fresh salmon, right?" Keitaro asked.

"Yeah," Shinobu said, sounding impressed.

"Okay. I can rush over to the ocean when we get out of here," Keitaro said, nodding.

"Awesome!" Shinobu exclaimed.

"Well, the ocean's not far away," Motoko said.

"Yeah. It'll only take a second to get there with superspeed," Keitaro pointed out.

"Really?" Motoko asked.

"Yeah. Well, unless you aren't used to it. Then it takes about three seconds and forty million yen in damages. Trust me on that," Keitaro said.

Shinobu and Motoko just double-blinked.

"What did I say?" Keitaro asked.

"Wow, you really are clueless," Naru scoffed.

"Uh..." Keitaro said, tilting his head in confusion.

"Anyway, Urashima-san, do you happen to know anything about _ki _energy that will help me improve?" Motoko asked, head hanging down.

"Well, I can teach you more about it if you're interested. You seem kinda... I don't know... ashamed. Don't worry, you don't need to be ashamed for learning something new. And I'll go at whatever pace you want. Are you okay with that?" Keitaro proposed.

"...Alright, Urashima-san. I accept your offer. You shall teach me in the forest. When shall you teach me?" Motoko said.

"Maybe after I fetch the fish," Keitaro suggested.

"Is that how _everyone_ thinks of me?" Kitsune asked, audible to the group over where Keitaro was. He and the girls turned to see Kitsune and Naru discussing.

"Well...yeah. I guess nobody's seen you be sweet before," Naru said to her, shrugging.

"Well...I like being a trickster, but everyone thinks I'm heartless?" Kitsune asked.

"Uh...not heartless, just scary. You know, meaning that they don't want to be around you because they're worried you'll do something rotten to them. You know, like tease them like crazy or set them up with a rotten joke," Naru explained.

"Hmm..." Kitsune said, putting her hand on her chin.

"Kitsune-san, you're sad, aren't you?" Mutsumi asked.

"Huh? Where did that come from? Of course not," Kitsune sputtered.

"Yes, you are," Keitaro said.

"Seems obvious to me," Motoko said.

"Yeah, not really hard to tell," Naru said.

"Yep. I can see you're disappointed," Su said.

"Really, Kitsune-san? Of course it's obvious," Sarah said.

"Sorry, Kitsune-sempai. It's just too obvious," Shinobu apologized meekly.

"Am I really that transparent?" Kitsune asked.

"Yeah, little bit," everyone said.

"I don't know how to react to that," Kitsune said.

"Wow. That's a first," Sarah said.

"Yeah. She gave up fast, too. Huh," Naru added.

"Speaking of fast, didn't you say you had superspeed, Kei-kun?" Su asked.

"Yeah. Why?" Keitaro asked.

"Well, I was going to work on a new Mecha Tama that has superspeed, but I've been looking for the proper motor for a while. Your superspeed seems to be the right speed for the motor I want. I just need to find the right motor strength. Will you help me?" Su asked.

"Well...I guess I could make a clone and let him help you with your project," Keitaro said.

"Is there anything you can't do with those powers?" Mutsumi asked somewhat incredulously.

"Well, nothing I can think of," Keitaro answered.

"Can you control the world?" Su asked with a smile.

"No, I definitely can't do _that_. I can only control one person at a time," Keitaro answered.

Cue the twenty-five seconds of silence.

"Uh..." Naru said.

"Awkward," Mutsumi noted, laughing awkwardly, everyone joining in with the awkward laughing.

...

Kitsune was walking out of the changing room after the awkward conversation, trying to catch up to Mutsumi, who was walking a little faster towards the living room.

"Hey, Mutsumi-san. I had an idea. How about you and I start a therapy business?" Kitsune asked.

"A therapy business?" Mutsumi repeated.

"Yeah. Picture this: you help the clients I find," Kitsune asked.

"Hmm...well, it does sound like a good idea, but what would you do?" Mutsumi asked.

"Well, I could be the manager. You know, find clients and manage the cash. Didn't I just say something about that?" Kitsune answered.

"Wait, didn't you need a degree or something to be a therapist?" Mutsumi asked.

"We could just be a community service," Kitsune answered.

"But what if we moved to a different community?" Mutsumi asked.

"WE'RE NOT GOING TO MOVE TO A DIFFERENT COMMUNITY!" Kitsune yelled.

"Huh. Well, just because you say it won't happen doesn't mean it can't happen," Mutsumi said. Kitsune facefaulted at this.

"Anyway, what do you say, Mutsumi-san?" Kitsune asked.

"Hmm...okay," Mutsumi responded.

"Great! We'll be swimming in cash in no time!" Kitsune commented, running off towards her room.

'I get the feeling she was going to take more of the money than me,' Mutsumi thought.

...

Meanwhile, Su was going to her room with a Keitaro clone in hand. Or rather, being dragged along like a rag doll.

"Su-chan, please slow down!" the clone yelled.

"No, I can't! I need to get testing as fast as possible!" Su said, not slowing down in the least.

"But you're scraping the shirt off my-" he started, only to be silenced by a tree to the noggin, in the forest that was growing all over Su's room.

"Kei-kun, watch where you're going!" Su yelled.

...

"One second, Shinobu-chan," Keitaro said. They were both standing in the kitchen.

"Okay, Sempai," Shinobu said.

"Just don't take long," Sarah said. She was standing there to help with the fish.

Keitaro ran out of the room with his superspeed and back. It really only took a second to get back. He was literally a blur.

"Well, that didn't take long," Sarah commented.

"I know," Keitaro said, putting down two barrels of fish.

"Well, at least the fish is fresh," Sarah commented.

"Yep. I saw the vendor catching fish and I bought some fish from him," Keitaro said.

"I guess it's a good thing I know how to clean fish, huh, Sempai?" Shinobu asked.

"Yeah, it is. Do you need any help?" Keitaro asked.

"Sure, Sempai. This _is_ a lot of fish," Shinobu said.

"Alright," Keitaro said, rolling up his sleeves. "Now, let's hurry with cleaning the fish. Don't want them stinking up the house with that fish smell," Keitaro commented.

**Five hours later**

The two of them had finished with the fish. Sarah had gone off somewhere in the middle and Shinobu had lots of clean fish in front of her.

"Thanks for the help, Sempai," Shinobu smiled.

"No problem, Shinobu-chan," Keitaro said, walking out of the kitchen.

...

And Motoko was waiting in the woods behind the Hinata, where she said she shall learn more. She meditated under the waterfall, where she waited. Finally, after a little while, she saw the growth in front of her being pushed aside with hands and reached for her sword like an instinct.

"Whoa, relax, Motoko-chan. It's just me," came the familiar voice Motoko knew to be her manager's.

"Oh, right. I apologize, Urashima-san," Motoko said.

"Don't worry about it, Motoko-chan. I'm used to it," Keitaro said.

"Okay. Now, I believe you promised to teach me more about _ki _energy," Motoko said rather eagerly.

"Well...close. You see, I need to teach you something else before you can learn more about _ki_ energy. It might seem unnecessary, but just bear with me. I promise you'll learn about what you don't know," Keitaro explained.

"Any lesson to help my training," Motoko agreed, nodding.

"Okay, now..." Keitaro said, clapping his hands together. When he opened his hands again, there was a guitar resting on his palms. Motoko just raised an eyebrow.

"A guitar? Is this what I'm using as a weapon or something?" Motoko asked.

"No. The thing I needed to teach you was how to play an instrument," Keitaro answered.

"What? Play an instrument? But this has absolutely _nothing_ to do with _ki_ energy. Besides, I already know how to play the flute," Motoko protested.

"Well, the flute isn't the only instrument there is. I need to show you how to play more instruments. Don't you want to learn more about _ki_ energy?" Keitaro asked.

"Well...yes, but can I not do that without learning how to play a guitar?" Motoko asked.

"I won't teach you if you won't learn," Keitaro answered.

"...Ugh. Fine. I will learn how to play these instruments you speak of," Motoko conceded, crossing her arms.

"Don't worry, Motoko-chan. This will be a good experience for you," Keitaro answered.

**One hour later**

"*pant* Urashima-san, *pant* remember when you said *pant* that this would be a good experience for me? Well, tell that *pant* to my fingers!" Motoko yelled.

"Well, it does take some getting used to. I'm going to check to see if breakfast is ready," Keitaro said, vanishing for a second and reappearing. "How about we take a break and eat breakfast?" Keitaro asked.

"I would rather learn more. I want to work as hard as possible. I can almost play this song without screwing up," Motoko protested.

"Motoko-chan, people learn best when they practice in chunks and take breaks in between," Keitaro insisted.

"That is coming from you? The all-night cramming ronin?" Motoko asked.

"Yeah. And besides, this is just a beginner song I composed to teach music. All it is is the musical scale with a beat. You'll learn faster if you take breaks," Keitaro added.

"...Fine, I will take a break for breakfast. I am somewhat tired from waking up earlier than usual today anyway," Motoko submitted.

They walked together along the path back to Hinata-sou, an enigmatic smile on Motoko's face. Subtle, but there nonetheless.

"Not to say that this is a bad thing, but why are you smiling, Motoko-chan?" Keitaro asked.

"Hmm? I'm not smiling," Motoko answered. The smile disappeared when he asked.

...

Near the doorway in Su's room...

"Su-chan, you almost killed me!" Sarah yelled.

"No I didn't. It was a bolt that went flying at you, not something big and heavy," Su protested calmly.

"It _was_ big and heavy! It was as tall as you and as heavy as a Mecha-Tama!" Sarah argued.

"This little thing?" Su asked, holding out a bolt the size of her middle finger.

"No! That _big_ thing!" Sarah shouted pointing to a giant bolt right in front of her.

"Where did that come from?" Su asked, seeming to notice the bolt for the first time.

"I don't know, maybe _that_?!" Sarah shouted, pointing to a giant machine with a missing bolt.

"Oh, yeah. How did I even pick that up?" Su asked.

"Why are you asking me? And why would you pick that up and throw it anyway?" Sarah shouted.

"Um, Sarah-chan, Su-san, breakfast is ready," Shinobu said in the doorway.

"Oh, thanks, Shinobu-chan!" Su said smiling.

"You're welcome," Shinobu said meekly, blushing a little from praise. She walked down to the kitchen.

Su sniffed the air. "What smells like salmon? Is it my Fish-Cannon again? I haven't even shot that thing yet!" Su asked.

"I have no clue what crazy idea inspired you to make a cannon out of salmon," Sarah commented, "and no, it's my hands. I was helping Shinobu-san with dinner."

...

The breakfast table was full of conversation.

"...and then she just grabbed my money and ran! What a jerk!" Kitsune said.

"Oh, don't worry, Kitsune-chan. That money would've disappeared anyway. I was trying to tell you that the stuff made with _dream_ energy vanishes after a day. She'll be arrested in no time," Keitaro said.

"And you didn't tell me?" Kitsune asked.

"Well, I tried, but you were already gone," Keitaro answered.

"It took you that long to respond?" Kitsune asked incredulously.

"You took less than a second to run out!" Keitaro shot back.

"Wow. Somebody's a slowpoke!" Kitsune teased. Keitaro's head hung down and he groaned at this.

"See, this is what I was talking about earlier. All you do is tease the crap out of people or prank them until they're foaming at the mouth!" Naru said.

"Oh. Right," Kitsune said, tilting her head down.

"Don't worry, Kitsune-chan. You're fine the way you are. Don't let others make you think different," Keitaro said soothingly, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Mutsumi was crying. "So...beautiful!" she said emphatically, eyes almost literally as big as plates and nose sniffling.

"I don't think it's beautiful enough to start crying over," Naru shrugged.

"Oh, Naru-san, you have a little something in your eye. It looks like water," Motoko said.

"Huh? Naru-san is...crying?" Sarah asked, putting on a goofy grin.

"Oh, like you've never cried before," Naru said defensively.

"Who said I hadn't?" Sarah asked, sniffling.

"This is truly a beautiful moment," Motoko said. She was also sniffling.

Suddenly, everyone heard a loud munching sound. They turned to see Su eating like a dog mixed with a pig and with her usual eating fervor.

"...aaaand now it's gone," Shinobu said. "Anyway, how does everyone feel about salmon sugiyama with fried rice balls and ramen for dinner? We have lots of salmon," she continued.

"Sounds delicious as always, Shinobu-chan," Naru commented, smiling.

"Yeah, we need a normal comment after all the craziness going on since yesterday," Kitsune said, now cheered up and back to her old self.

"Oh, definitely. Hey, Motoko-san, how's your training with this idiot helping you?" Naru asked, pointing to 'this idiot'.

"Well... he's teaching me how to play guitar right now," Motoko responded.

"What? How does that have anything to do with your training?" Naru asked, flaring up with anger a little.

"I don't know. He said I had to learn this first," Motoko shrugged.

"And you didn't hit him for it?!" Naru shouted.

"Oh, boy," Sarah said, getting up just like everyone else to stand out of Naru's way.

Naru was fuming. Literally; there was some steam coming off of her head. She said nothing as she jumped over the table and bashed him upside the head, sending him flying out the kitchen and out into the world.

"Why did you do that?" Su asked, confused.

"... Oops," Naru said sheepishly after a second.

And about ten seconds later, he reappeared in the kitchen door looking like winter hadn't let go of him so easily.

Shinobu became franticly concerned, to put it into describable words. "Sempai! Are you alright?" was her question. She got up out of her chair to go to him, as everyone had already sat down. The center of attention was on Keitaro now.

"The N-North P-Pole i-is c-c-c-c-c-cold," was his answer.

"The North Pole? But she hit you so you would go that way," Kitsune pointed out, pointing south, "North is that way," she pointed it out again, pointing the direction opposite where she pointed first.

"I know. Antarc-c-ctica is c-c-c-cold, too. S-S-Space was th-the c-c-coldest," Keitaro added.

"Do you need a heater or anything, Sempai?" Shinobu asked.

"Th-th-thanks, Shinobu-chan. A t-t-towel would be fine. And maybe some hot tea," Keitaro answered.

"Okay, Sempai!" Shinobu said, getting a teacup and pouring her sempai some tea from the teapot on the table. After that, she went running off, out of the kitchen, probably to get a towel.

Meanwhile, the ice surrounding Keitaro visibly started to melt as he was drinking his tea. By the time Shinobu got back with the towel, there was a puddle on the ground around his feet.

"Thanks, Shinobu-chan," Keitaro said, taking the towel and wiping up the floor.

"Hey, doesn't ice take a while to melt?" Su wondered.

"That is the least weird observation anyone's made since yesterday. I do not think anyone will wonder about it," Motoko noted, taking a bite of her morning scrambled eggs.

"Nope," every other girl replied in unison, not even looking up from their meals.

"Oh, okay," Su said, resuming her loud gobbling of half the eggs Shinobu made for that morning.

"So, Naru-chan, what are you going to do today?" Keitaro asked.

"Why?" Naru asked.

"Well, you haven't said anything yet, so..." Keitaro explained, gesturing to prove his point.

"All I was going to do was study," Naru responded.

"Okay. You know, I'm probably the worst person to give you advice, but maybe you should take a break from studying today," Keitaro suggested.

"Oh, please. Like I don't get enough breaks from studying with everyone here for friends. Remember that time you and I went running off to Kyoto without knowing we were traveling with each other? How we met Mutsumi-san? When we thought we were stranded on that island and everyone found us? I think that was break enough, even when you remember I only planned to go to Kyoto for a week or so, not get stranded in the middle of the ocean with an idiot and a friend who faints a lot," Naru pointed out.

"Good point. Wait...hey!" Keitaro exclaimed indignantly.

"Doesn't feinting have something to do with swords?" Mutsumi asked, putting her hand on her chin.

"That's the wrong kind of fainting, Mutsumi-san!" Naru shouted.

"Whoa!" Keitaro yelped, falling backwards in his chair. Everyone looked at him over the table. He looked paralyzed and his eyes had swirls in them. His face had a spitball on it.

"Bullseye!" Sarah shouted. Everyone stared at her.

"Sarah-chan, we do not play with spitballs at the dinner table!" Motoko scolded.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't know," Sarah said, feigning innocence like many other kids the author knows about.

"I just told you yesterday!" Kitsune shouted.

"Yeah. And at dinner, no less!" Naru added.

"Hey, that was an accident!" Sarah shot back indignantly.

"_You _were holding the straw!" Su said.

"That wasn't nice, Sarah-chan!" Shinobu said shyly, looking like she was about to cry.

"Hey, don't point that at me, please, Motoko-san!" Sarah yelled.

"Stop playing around, Sarah-chan! Don't become a liar. Tell us the truth!" Motoko said, holding a spoon and pointing it at Sarah. Su, Shinobu, Naru, and Kitsune were all also glaring at her, in that way that mothers do when they scold their children.

"Oh, no!" Sarah exclaimed, breaking into a run. She was running for the door when Naru blocked her off. Sarah stopped and looked around to see the other girls surrounding her. Sarah ran through Su and Shinobu, everyone else chasing her around the table.

Meanwhile, Mutsumi was just sitting where she was sitting before the spitball-shooting. She was eating her breakfast while all the chaotic chasing was going on behind her. She gulped down the last of her eggs when Keitaro got up and stood his chair up where he was seated and took his seat, all calmly. Then the girls ran behind him.

"Ara, Kei-kun. You woke up," Mutsumi said, smiling.

"Uh...was it Sarah-chan again?" Keitaro asked, looking at the spitball on his nose and pointing to the group still around the table.

"I think so," Mutsumi responded.

Keitaro just sat there watching the group chase each other around, at one point seeing Sarah try a fake-out, only for Naru to try the same thing on the other side of the table and watching the chase go back to square one.

"You know, this feels so familiar somehow," Keitaro noted, putting his hand on his chin.

"Well, there was the incident yesterday at dinnertime," Mutsumi pointed out.

"No, that's not it..." Keitaro said off-handedly, his hand still on his chin.

...

Meanwhile, somewhere dark and damp somewhere in Nagoya, a man was watching the scene unfold in front of his eyes. Well, eye. The other eye was moving about in a crazy way, not even focusing on one thing for a second. The eye that _could_ focus on one thing for longer than forty-three milliseconds was paying attention to a glowing purple orb made of glass. The man's face had a faraway look to it.

"How I long for a family such as this... to have someone to love, and be able to know that love is returned...How I wish I had someone to chase around...How I long for friendship that is strong enough to-" he started.

"Seriously?! Are you still babbling in there about how you've never had a friend in your twenty-five years of life?" a woman's voice was heard from the other side of the door.

"Well, I never _did_ have a friend! Where's my reward for being good at keeping people away?!" he yelled through the door. He hid the purple orb under his bed as he went to the door, undoubtedly to yell at the girl at the door. The scene in the orb was none other than the Hinata gang chasing after Sarah in circles.

...

Anyway, back to the Hinata gang:

"Well, I'm going to go study," Mutsumi said, getting up with Keitaro.

"Okay. I needed to get something from my room. Let me write them a note. That always works," Keitaro said, getting a marker out of nowhere and writing a note on his nearly-unused napkin.

**Ten minutes later**

Naru noticed that Keitaro and Mutsumi weren't in the room anymore.

"Hey, where'd Mutsumi-san and Keitaro-san go?" she asked.

"Huh?" Kitsune said, looking around.

"Look, guys. A note," Motoko pointed out. And, no, not in that cliche way you guys probably thought the author meant.

"'_Dear girls, _

_ I went to my room to get something._

_ Sincerely,_

_ -Keitaro Urashima_

_P.S. I went to my room to study. -Mutsumi Otohime_'" Su read.

"_Wow._ So, during that whole time, they just got up and left to go to their rooms?" Kitsune asked incredulously.

"Apparently, they finished their breakfasts, too," Su noted, looking at their plates closely with a sad face.

"Well, I feel immature after what we just did, chasing Sarah-chan around like that. Why did we do that, anyway?" Motoko asked.

"Don't ask us! Especially not me!" Sarah said, holding her hands up defensively.

"Hmph. Okay, then," Motoko said stoically, going into the hall.

"Hey, are you going to finish your breakfast?" Su yelled after her.

"No," Motoko yelled back eagerly.

"Okay, more for me!" Su said, gobbling down the sausage left on the plate.

...

Keitaro was waiting at the same spot Motoko and himself were training at about three weeks later as well. Well, if you could call it that. It was more like a break _from_ training than that, but Motoko considered it training of sorts. This was because, so far, she could play a guitar and drums. That's what daily practice did to her skills. She was starting to have her doubts, though.

"Good morning, Motoko-chan. Are you ready to practice some more?" Keitaro asked.

"Urashima-san, I don't doubt that you are knowledgeable with playing this guitar, but I haven't learned a single new thing about _ki _yet. Are you planning to teach me? Because I am starting to have my doubts about your credibility," Motoko asked.

"I thought you said you'd bear with me here, Motoko-chan. You never break away from your word," Keitaro pointed out.

"Yes, I know, but..." Motoko started, but was at a loss for words. Finally, after a moment, she sighed. She was clearly very frustrated, clenching her fists the way she did. After a couple of deep breaths, she unclenched her fists and calmed down. "I'm ready to start practicing, Urashima-san," she said.

"Alright, Motoko-chan. If you're ready," Keitaro said, pulling another glowing blue guitar of energy from thin air, along with some equipment. "Now, try playing 'Through the Fire and Flames' for me," he instructed.

**Eight minutes later**

"Very good, Motoko-chan. You played that song very well. Just work on that second solo. You missed a couple F notes," Keitaro assessed.

"Grrrr..." Motoko growled.

"Also, you might want to try moving rocking your head to the beat. It really helps-" Keitaro continued.

"No! That's it! I have not learned anything about _ki _for the month you were teaching me how to play a musical instrument from a country I will probably never go to! I don't care about how to make music when I could be training! I am done learning from you!" Motoko yelled, voice fuming with pent-up frustration.

"Whoa, whoa, Motoko-chan. All we've been doing this week is practicing playing songs," Keitaro said, some soothing tone in his voice.

"That's just it! I have lost three weeks' worth of training time practicing an instrument instead of perfecting my katas! I could've actually gotten better with my actual _ki _skills in the past few weeks where you had me learn rock instruments! I could have been productive for that whole time I just wasted! I'm finished with this!" Motoko yelled, taking all her frustration and putting it into her voice.

"...If you wish to take a break from learning music, you can," Keitaro said, smiling.

"Huh?" Motoko asked. She obviously expected more of a fight. 'Why is he smiling? I expected more of a resistance. He clearly doesn't object,' she wondered.

"If you want to go back to your old way of training, you can. I can see you need a break," Keitaro said calmly.

'Why is he so calm?' Motoko wondered again. She said, "Okay," like she was at a loss for words.

She took the walk back to Hinata in stunned silence, alone.

...

Meanwhile, Shinobu had been doing the week's laundry. She saw something peculiar in the basket when she put the clothes on a clothesline.

"Hmm? What's this?" she wondered, picking up a small stone triangle with a glyph engraved into it. The glyph had a circle inside, a star inside that, and a dot inside that. 'Well, whatever this triangle is, it makes me feel relaxed, like my worries are just draining away. Maybe I should ask Sempai if he knows anything about it,' she thought, smiling.

And with that, she finished hanging the laundry on the clothesline and walked off into the house, unaware that the dot in the middle was glowing slightly sea blue.

...

"Thank you, Kei-clone! You have helped massively in this project!" Su exclaimed gratefully.

"Anytime, Su-chan!" Keitaro's clone yelled from the super-fast treadmill she had built for testing the motor. Su had been working on the motor all of the first week, furiously trying out combinations. Apparently, she had to create stronger motors just so the treadmill could survive and remain usable.

Two weeks after that, however, she was riding the one and only Mark I Hyperspeed Mecha-Tama wearing her prospector's outfit she often wears when she wants to.

She moved her fingers around on the touchscreen control panel and blasted out the wall to her room the next half-second later.

Then everyone heard a crash at the bottom of Hinata Hill and an "I'm okay!" from that scientist girl.

...

After a few minutes, Shinobu walked to Keitaro's room, tray in hands. That triangle was in her pocket, forgotten.

She knocked on the door as she arrived.

"Who is it?" Naru's voice sounded.

"It's me. I figured you wanted a snack," Shinobu said.

"Come on in," Naru said, opening the door.

And who else would enter but Shinobu? Well, the relaxed grin on her face seemed out of place for the girl holding the tray, so it seemed like someone other than Shinobu entered the room.

"Oh, hey, Shinobu-chan. Thanks for the snacks. You seem relaxed. How are you?" Keitaro asked.

"Well, I don't really know how, but I feel really relaxed today. Like nothing will go wrong," Shinobu commented.

"That's good, Shinobu-chan. Oh, before I forget, I dropped something somewhere. Have you seen it?" Keitaro asked.

"Could you tell me what it looked like, Sempai?" Shinobu asked, putting her fingers on her chin.

"Well, it was made of stone and it was a triangle with shapes in it," Keitaro described.

"Hmm... that sounds familiar... oh, I remember! I found it earlier while I was doing the laundry," Shinobu replied, taking out the stone glyph triangle she had in her pocket.

"Oh, thanks. I was looking for that," Keitaro said, getting up to go to Shinobu and take back the triangle.

When he held his hand out to take it back, however, his eyes suddenly changed. His pupils changed to look like mini clocks.

**Inside Keitaro's mind**

"Good job, Shinobu-chan! That frying pan makes a good weapon!" he had said.

"Well, we made it together!" Shinobu said with a smile.

**Back to reality, as Keitaro's 'vision' had ended**

"-loooo? Sempai? Is something wrong?" Shinobu asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm okay," Keitaro said, pocketing the triangle she just gave him.

"Was something perverted just going through your head just now?" Naru asked skeptically.

"Huh? No..." Keitaro responded.

"I knew it!" Naru responded, getting up to run and smack Keitaro in the face, once again sending him into orbit. "Pervert!" Naru yelled after him, crossing her arms.

...

**In the garbage dump**

Keitaro groaned as he got up off of the big pile of trash he was on. 'I wonder how I always end up at this same garbage dump,' was the thought he briefly had. Somehow, he landed on a big mushy pile of something. As he got up, his hand glowed and the mysterious substance just vanished.

'That was harder to get off,' he noted, getting off the pile and heading to the entrance he knew so well the location of. 'Still, it'll be impossible to shake this feeling I got from that vision. I haven't had one in years! I have to call Haruka-san,' he thought. Looking around, he hid in a pile of trash (that was clean) and held his hand out in an I'm-giving-you-something gesture. A gray orb appeared as he waited. After a few moments, the face of his cousin/aunt appeared in the orb. She was drinking some tea at one the counter of her teahouse.

"Oh, hey Kei-sama. What's-" she started.

"I just had a vision! The kind I haven't had since I was eight!" Keitaro interrupted urgently and swiftly. The sound of glass breaking could be heard on the other end.

After a few moments of stunned silence, Keitaro asked, "Hello? Haruka-sama? Aunt-ow! Hey, how did you hit me through the telecast?! Seriously?!"

"You had a vision?! Tell me the details!" Haruka said, voice suddenly urgent.

...

"...2998...2999...3000!" Motoko said, swinging her katana with each number. She was on the roof, practicing her katas the old way in her traditional training clothes. Once she was done with her training, she sat down and panted. As her panting slowed down, she thought to herself, 'It never occurred to me how much I train before. Now that I think about it, everything fun I've ever done didn't involve training. Not even disciplining Urashima-san for his perversions was as uncomfortably boring as this. Hmm...maybe I should take a break from training for now. After all, he did tell me that people learn best when they take breaks in between.' As she pondered what to do, her brow furrowed. Her eyes widened after apparently thinking of something, but her brow only furrowed more. 'I guess I really needed a hobby. Well, I guess I can try that,' she thought. She walked towards the stairs down to the hallway.

As she got into the hallway, she saw Sarah running through the halls. Sarah stopped as she saw Motoko in the hallway.

"Oh, hey, Motoko-san. You stopped training early. What's wrong?" she asked.

"I just figured I should take a break. After all, people learn faster when they take breaks in between," Motoko answered.

As she walked by, Sarah just stared after her. Sarah just shrugged and resumed running around. Motoko just resumed walking to her room.

Once she got to her room, she walked over to the samurai armor in her room... and reached behind it to produce an electric keyboard from where it rested. She sat down and lay the keyboard on her lap. She played a little tune with her keyboard, smiling a small smile. 'Heh. I remember that lesson. Urashima had just fallen into the pond after trying to get the guitar pic back from that monkey,' she recalled.

...

"Hey, am I hearing music? From Motoko-san's room? I must be hearing things. She doesn't play any instrument besides the flute," Naru noted, looking up from her study session for a second.

"I've been teaching her how to play some new instruments," Keitaro explained, not looking up from his paper, despite the fact that his pencil was not only not moving, but next to the table on the floor. He smelled terrible.

"Really? Why?" Naru asked.

"Well, I thought music lessons would be good for her. She probably hasn't done much outside of training for years, so I figured she should take a break from sword training," Keitaro explained.

"Okay," Naru said dismissively, turning her head to look at the clock (it read 11:30), then back to her paper.

'Phew,' Keitaro said in his head.

...

"Hey, Shinobu-chan, have you seen Sarah-chan?" Su asked.

"Umm, I think I saw her running around earlier," Shinobu said.

"Where?" Su asked.

"I saw her running around near the roof stairs earlier," Shinobu answered.

"Thanks!" Su yelled from down the hall.

'Huh? Wasn't she just...' Shinobu thought, looking to the spot where Su was just standing. There was just a settling dust cloud. Shinobu just shrugged and said, "Huh. I have no idea how she does that."

...

"Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" was the shout that was heard 'round Japan, it was so loud. That's because Shinobu had been inaccurate when she said that Sarah was still in the house; no, Sarah was soaring through the air at blink speed in Su's new Mark I Hyperspeed Mecha-Tama.

"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII'MMMMMMMM GOOOOOOOOONNNNAAAAAAAA HUUUUURRRRLLLL!" she was shouting at the top of her lungs, still smiling in spite of the fact that she was unable to hold onto the steering wheel with all the speed she picked up.

The huge beastly machine glided down onto a farm, crashing through the cow pasture and taking some cows with it.

...

"Hey, where did my new Mecha-Tama go?" Su wondered.

Then the missing vehicle in question crashed through the trees of Su's room, dead cows on the head. Sarah climbed out of the Mecha-Tama, all dizzy.

"Sarah-chan? What are you doing here?" Su asked.

"I thought I would take this out for a spin," Sarah said woozily.

"What happened? What blew up this time?" Naru's voice came from the door. Su looked over to see everyone there: all the people who heard the crash (Shinobu, Motoko, Naru, Keitaro, Kitsune, Mutsumi, Haruka, and some random teenage girl with long blonde hair and her mother, who had brown hair).

"Who's this girl?" Naru asked Kitsune and Mutsumi.

"She's our client for today. We were in the middle of a therapy session," Kitsune explained.

"See, mom? I told you the demon turtle was real!" the girl said to her mother.

"Girl, that's no demon turtle! That's a giant metal machine!" the mother told her child.

"Oh," the girl said, in realization.

Sarah started careening around, dizzy like she was. She looked like she was going to hurl.

"Sarah-chan, no!" Motoko yelled.

Sarah puked all over the little girl. They were about the same height.

"Aw, man! I just ironed this shirt!" mother and daughter shouted in unison. Everyone just stared at them.

...

"Anyways, I apologize for Sarah-chan puking all over your daughter," Kitsune said to the mother. Everyone had gone back to where they were when Kitsune said, and I quote, "I'll handle it." Now Kitsune and Mutsumi were with the mother and daughter in one of the guest rooms that Kitsune and Mutsumi were using as a therapy room. So far, they've had about 15 different customers in two weeks, including this one. Right now, 15 minutes and a new change of clothes later, Mutsumi was playing with the little girl, who was wearing one of Naru's shirts.

"It's alright, Fraulein. I needed to wash this dirty shirt anyway," the woman said.

"Oh, really?" Kitsune asked.

"Yeah. Emma here fell in a couple of mud puddles on the way here. Thought she saw somethin' like this 'turtle demon' she just talked about. We've been to a couple other places and they couldn't help her," she said.

"Oh. Well, I guess that's a mother's job. Good thing Su-chan put away her Mecha-Tama. By the way, I didn't catch your name," Kitsune said.

"Oh, Fraulein, I am Barbara Franz, German foreign exchange junior detective. I'm here on business," Barbara responded.

"I'm Mitsune Konno, but everyone calls me Kitsune because my name just happens to have the Kana to make the word 'fox'. Also, it's who I am. So, why did you bring your daughter along on business?" Kitsune introduced.

"Oh, she's _really_ into detective stuff. Spent four weeks' allowance on luminol testing fluid and fingerprint powder. She keeps the spray bottle for the luminol in her purse, looking for something strange to find. Speaking of something strange, you wouldn't happen to know anything about the legend of the Flying Man, would you, Fraulein?" Detective Franz explained and asked.

"Huh?" Kitsune asked.

"Well, it is rumored that some sort of superhero comes flying from this very city all around Japan, screaming for some reason. I see him all the time, and I always think I'm going crazy," Detective Franz explained.

"Oh," Kitsune said, trying to hold back laughter, in vain.

"What's so funny, Fraulein?" Detective Franz asked.

"Sorry, sorry. You must be talking about Keitaro-san," Kitsune said.

"Huh?" Detective Franz replied.

"Well, at least once a day, Kei-kun, he's the manager of this dorm, gets himself launched by Naru-san, the girl with long hair, for being 'perverted'," Kitsune said.

"Wait, Dreamy Fräulein over in the other room is the Flying Man? And a pervert? " Detective Franz asked.

"Well, Naru-san seems to think so! But, don't worry, he never means it. He's just clumsy, unlucky, untalented, kinda an idiot...you know, the works," Kitsune explained. "Wait, did you just call him 'Dreamy'?" she asked.

"Uh...yeah, yeah, Fraulein," the Detective responded.

"How old did you say you were?" Kitsune asked.

"I'm nineteen, Fraulein," Franz answered.

"Wow. Well, that girl with the long hair (her name is Naru) also kinda likes him, so you might have some competition there. You must have been at the top of your class to be a detective at this age," Kitsune noted.

"Yeah. Well, that and the fact that I was in a school where so many of the boys were too busy with sports or other things to do much and many of the girls had attitude problems," Detective Franz said.

"_What_? Attitude problems? Where did you go, a reformatory?!" Kitsune shouted.

"Yeah. I used to play around there all the time when I was younger. Then they invited me in for schooling in place of my old school. They said they were the best elementary school in the district," the Detective explained.

Kitsune just double-blinked, giving her a blank stare.

"What? Did I say something odd?" she asked.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing too unusual. Well, to be fair, it's like a traveling circus around here almost every day. You could almost name all the acts on all of us. Kei-kun could be 'The Indestructible Man'. Wait... I just realized... Are you married?"

"No, why?" Detective Franz asked.

"Well, I just wondered because you have a daughter and you called Kei-kun dreamy..." Kitsune explained.

"Oh, no, I adopted Emma and I haven't married yet," Detective Franz explained.

"Oh," Kitsune exclaimed.

"I also dabble in a little nursing at the hospital," Detective Franz explained.

"Oh?" Kitsune exclaimed again.

"Yeah. My employer's comment was, and I quote, 'I have never met a nurse with her skill. Every patient she's ever had bounced back very quickly, some to the point of recovering from an almost-fatal disease or injury to being completely fine after. I've never seen anything like it in all my years of being a doctor, especially not from someone who's only been here for a week!'," Detective Franz boasted.

"Wow. Sounds impressive!" Kitsune commented with a smile.

"Yeah, I get that a lot," Detective Franz said meekly, rubbing the back of her head.

"Well, anyway, at least now Emma knows that this 'turtle demon' was really Su-chan's Mecha-Tama," Kitsune said.

"Yeah. One time, I thought I saw it too, but I figured I was imagining things," Ms. Franz commented. Then her cell phone rang. "This is... work. Be right back. Gotta take this," the detective said, walking over to another part of the room to talk on the phone.

"So, Emma-chan, how are you now that you know the truth about the 'turtle demon'?" Mutsumi was asking in the meantime.

"I-I-It's shocking! I just found out that I was looking at things the wrong way the whole time!" The girl, Emma, exclaimed.

"Don't worry about it. After all, you had never met Su-chan before today, so you couldn't have guessed that what you really kept seeing was a giant mechanical turtle. It's no surprise to be shocked," Mutsumi explained.

"Not as shocking as seeing you faint right in front of me. You looked absolutely dead!" Emma said.

"Oh, yeah. That. Well, like I said, I have anemia and sometimes I spontaneously-Ooh, a watermelon. Wait, what was I talking about again?" Mutsumi said.

"You were talking about your anemia, Miss Otohime-san. I'm guessing you also spontaneously forget stuff," Emma commented.

"Oh, it's alright to call me Mutsumi. And... um... Oh, yeah! I remember now! I have anemia! Sometimes I-" Mutsumi started fast, but was cut off by her fainting.

"Oh, man. Not again!" Kitsune and Emma said at the same time, both of them coming to where Mutsumi lay, looking like she was strangled to death.

"..." Silence. Other than the detective talking on the phone, no noise.

After a couple minutes, Mutsumi woke up. "Ara, ara. Did I faint again?" she asked.

"Yep. Nothing unusual, really," Kitsune answered.

Sarah bursted into the room. "Did Mutsumi-san faint again? I heard a thud," she asked.

"Yeah, Sarah-chan. Don't worry, everyone's alright. And don't talk too loud. The detective's on the phone," Kitsune said.

"Got it," Sarah said, voice lowered. She walked over to Emma. "Who are you?" she asked.

"Sarah-chan! Don't be so rude to a guest!" Kitsune scolded.

"Oh, so you want me to be like you when new lottery tickets sell?" Sarah asked testily, causing Emma to giggle.

"...Touché, Sarah-chan," Kitsune answered, walking out of the room.

Emma, meanwhile, was still giggling. "Nice," she smiled.

"Thanks. I still don't know who you are, but thanks," Sarah said.

"Oh, right! I'm Emma Franz. I was adopted by that detective when she was visiting America. My mom... well, my real mom... passed away because of lung cancer," Emma said somberly, looking away.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I know how that feels," Sarah said, also somber and looking down.

Emma lifted her head slightly. "Really?" she asked.

"Yeah. My mom died the same way," Sarah said sadly.

"Oh. What a sad coincidence," Emma noted.

"Yeah," Sarah agreed. The air remained tense for a few moments.

Finally, Sarah spoke up. "Well, I'm Sarah McDougal. Nice to meet you, Emma-san," she said solemnly.

"Hey, Emma-chan, we gotta go. There's been a mass assault at a mall in Tokyo. We have to go check out the scene," Detective Franz said.

"Okay, mom," Emma said, walking with her mother. "Bye, Sarah-chan," she said, waving to Sarah.

"Bye, Emma-san," Sarah waved back.

And, at that, the detective and her adopted daughter left for the mall she just mentioned.

...

Once outside of Hinata House, the Detective looked back at the place, narrowing her eyes.

"What's wrong, mom?" Emma asked her, stopping in her tracks.

"Hmm... I get the feeling... Emma, did you feel anything... different about this place from the other therapist places we visited?" she asked.

"Yeah. Almost like... the place was alive somehow," she said.

The two of them looked up at the sky in thought. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning flashed in their vision, turning the cloudless blue noon sky a bright white for a second. That bolt startled the crap out of the two of them.

"Wha-? Lightning? But... the sky is totally cloudless! Emma, was that you?" Detective Franz said.

"I don't think so. I mean, I'm the only one who can do that around here, but I didn't make it happen," Emma wondered.

"I can feel the energy pouring off you like a waterfall. Something must have amplified your power. There's no way lightning would just randomly flash across the sky like-" Barbara started.

Another bolt of electricity interrupted that sentence. This one, however, was no mere distanced flash of light across the sky. No, no. This was many thousands of volts of electricity dive-bombing from the heavens.

Right at Emma Franz.

Emma was shaking and wobbling with all the voltage coursing through her like she was having a seizure. Detective Franz was staring wide-eyed at the scene. She cried, "Emma!" in panic after the shock dissipated (well, shocks, technically). Emma was keeled over on the ground, panting heavily, hair in front of her face.

The Detective got over the panic and ran over to her daughter. "Are you alright, Herr Blondie? Are you hurt? Are you-oh, God, Emma, your skin's roasted!" were the concerned motherly reactions.

"Mom, I thought I asked you not to call me 'Herr Blondie' anymore!" Emma whined, looking at her mother, "and I'm fine. I somehow managed to take a lightning bolt to the head this time. Still, what was that? I've never taken that much in before. What happened?" she added.

"No, honey, I don't think you're fine! I don't even need any help to tell that you're in some pain. Your skin is scorched and red and you're breathing like you just ran for your life. Hold on, let me do an analysis," the detective retorted, pupils of the eyes emitting a blood red glow. Those pupils looked up, then down, scanning the crispy-looking person like a land surveyor scanning the landscape.

"Just as I figured. You're making so much energy, you're causing enough lightning strikes to burn down a middle sized forest; not to mention, you look like you're about to run a marathon. Hold on. I have to restrain you. It's a medical thing," the detective assessed, whipping out two pairs of handcuffs from her purse. They were stylish blood-red ones (at least, as stylish as you could get with handcuffs). The cuffs were put on Emma's wrists and ankles (Emma was apparently struggling like crazy, all epileptic) and the Detective furrowed her brow while holding her hand above Emma. The glow from her hand bathed Emma in blood-red light, seeming to get rid of all signs of burns. Then the light from the detective's hand changed to a teal color, drawing a yellow mist out of Emma. Then she aimed her hand upward and blasted all that yellow mist up into the cloudless blue like a cannon.

"You should be good for now," Barbara Franz said to Emma, taking the handcuffs and placing them in her purse. "Now, I might need to investigate why you were so alive with energy later. First, though, the mass assault. Something in Draven's tone said that this was no ordinary madman's work," she added to herself, picking up her daughter off the ground and walking down the steps.

|\/\/|

And, finally, that's chapter five. Remember when I said that the chapter won't progress the story? Well, I lied. I don't think I can make that kind of chapter until later in the storyline, so hang in there if you're looking for those kind of stories. They will happen, but not now. Anyway, bye readers!

...

...

...

...

Hey, I said, "Bye, readers!" Why isn't the screen fading away?

Random lawyer: As in the will of Mr. Bob Saget, I bequeath to you, Voice Actor... A boot to the head.

Voice: OW! Where the **** did that come from?! Just... ugh. Bye readers. Now let me get ice for my arm.

Lawyer: Aren't you more worried about your eye?

Voice: Oh, wouldn't you like to know?

(screen fades to black)


End file.
